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Translator: TipToe
Translator (September 28, 2024 Version): Barnnn
“…Whew.”
Tsutomu yielded to the familiar pull of teleportation, that strange sensation of falling through space. He, Garm, and Amy reappeared on solid ground, still clutching one another’s hands. It wasn’t so long ago that the disorienting rush would’ve left him stumbling, collapsing more than once under the vertigo. But now, after a few embarrassing falls, he had found his balance — no more intimate encounters with the earth every time they teleported.
The landscape before them was a far cry from the Guild’s busy halls. A boundless sea of pale green grass stretched endlessly under the open sky. They had arrived at a high vantage point, offering an unbroken view of the plains below, where a few monsters could be spotted roaming in the distance.
“Amy, can you scout ahead?” Tsutomu asked.
“On it!” she chirped, and in an instant, she was gone — a blur of movement, vanishing across the Grasslands like a gust of wind.
Left in the quiet that followed, Tsutomu reached into the Magic Bag slung over his shoulder, withdrawing the White Staff. His eyes flicked over the shining gear he wore, a wry smile tugging at his lips. “Yup, I definitely look like a White Mage,” he murmured, running through a mental checklist of his spells.
As Garm began his warm-up routine, Tsutomu assisted with practiced ease. Amy returned soon after, barely winded.
“No other Explorers in sight. And no serious threats either. We’re clear,” she reported.
“Sounds good. Let’s start with those three Goblins, then,” Tsutomu replied, nodding toward a trio of figures in the distance.
“Understood,” Garm said, his voice stoic as ever.
Amy lifted a hand, signaling her readiness, while Garm, having finished his stretches, stood poised for action. They wore the simple uniforms of Guild staff — no weapons in hand. It was as much a strategic choice as a precaution; in the worst-case scenario, if they fell, they wouldn’t lose any valuable gear. But their appearance also served another purpose: a subtle deterrent.
To even qualify as a non-office worker Guild staff, one had to have braved at least forty Dungeon layers, then pass a grueling written exam and a hands-on combat assessment. Only those who excelled in both, and impressed the Guild Master herself during a final interview, earned their place among the ranks. Such credentials rarely went unnoticed.
Few dared to challenge Guild staff — especially with two of them in the same place. And the ones who did, never did twice; there had been a handful who tried harassing Tsutomu’s group, either out of jealousy or mistaking them as easy prey upon seeing them unarmed, but they had quickly fled as soon as Tsutomu started pulling weapons from his Magic Bag.
“All right, I’m casting <<Protect>>,” Tsutomu called, raising the White Staff high. The gem at its tip flickered, casting a soft, earthy glow that enveloped the group.
The spell wrapped around them, forming a layer of unseen armor, its strength woven from the concentration of Tsutomu’s mental energy.
“Thanks!” Amy shouted, already dashing off again. Garm and Tsutomu followed at a brisk jogging pace.
Amy reached the Goblins first, her swift kick at one’s jaw sending it tumbling through the air. Garm was close behind, delivering a crushing blow to the second Goblin’s face. Meanwhile, Tsutomu planted his staff into the ground, his focus on the third.
“<<Heal>>!”
Though neither Amy nor Garm had been hurt, Tsutomu cast the spell as practice. A fist-sized wisp of green energy, faint yet potent, shot from the staff and struck Amy’s back mid-stride.
For a time, Tsutomu treated the fight like a training exercise, targeting Amy and Garm with long-ranged <<Heal>> as they darted about the battlefield. Eventually, as Amy’s movements grew slower and her boredom set in, Garm ended the last Goblin with a brutal snap of its neck under his foot.
The creature’s body dissolved into shimmering green light, leaving no trace of blood behind. Only a single shard of a Magic Stone remained where the Goblin had been, its tiny, translucent form catching the light. Amy scooped it up and tossed it toward Tsutomu with a laugh.
“You’ve really honed your skills, Tsutomu. Remember when you healed the Goblins instead of us?” she teased, grinning wide.
“Hey, stop reminding me of that. Give me a little credit, will you?”
“I’ll never forget Garm’s face when it happened! It was like… he got bitten by his own pet dog!”
Chuckling, she tossed another Magic Stone Scrap toward Tsutomu, who tucked it into his bag, still smiling sheepishly. Garm, quiet but not unaffected, glanced off to the side, the memory clearly lingering in his mind.
――▽▽――
The incident had unfolded during Tsutomu’s very first venture into the Dungeon, with Garm as his guide. In the heat of one battle, Tsutomu had instinctively cast a <<Heal>> spell on Amy, just as he would have in the game he once played. To his shock, however, the injured Goblin they were fighting had also been healed. He froze, disbelief coursing through him — this was nothing like the games he had played, where players’ healing spells were never extended to enemies.
Afterward, Garm had pulled him aside, advising him to hold back on healing until after they regrouped. Though Tsutomu understood that this world operated on different rules, he quietly followed the advice, acknowledging that he was in unfamiliar territory.
Yet the next day, Garm continued repeating the same instructions. For the better part of that day, Tsutomu found himself relegated to the sidelines, watching Amy and Garm methodically dismantle Goblin after Goblin. His role, it seemed, was simply to cast <<Heal>> after the dust had settled — always followed by a nod of approval from Garm.
And so, the routine persisted. As the hours wore on, Tsutomu’s mind began to drift, boredom creeping in. When he returned to the Guild that evening, he was surprised to find that he had gained 5 levels, and his Status Card now listed new abilities: the support spell <<Protect>> and the offensive skill <<Air Blade>>.
The next day, however, the pattern remained unchanged. Before each battle, he would cast <<Protect>>; after, he would heal the team, while Amy and Garm did the heavy lifting. When Tsutomu hesitantly asked if he could test out his new skill, <<Air Blade>>, Garm’s response had been firm, almost patronizing.
“Tsutomu, your job is to cast <<Protect>> before the fight and <<Heal>> afterward. That’s all you need to do.”
“Isn’t that a little too cautious? I get that dying is a possibility here, but we can still respawn, right? I mean, not that I’m eager to feel pain, but…”
“As a White Mage, your role is to support before the fight and heal after. That’s all you need to do.”
“…Understood.”
At the time, Tsutomu hadn’t seen enough Dungeon broadcasts to grasp the full picture, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that Garm was underestimating him. Frustration gnawed at him, but he forced a smile and decided to take a little break from Dungeon diving.
For the next five days, Tsutomu secluded himself in the training grounds. He threw himself into honing his skills — refining spell trajectories, adjusting the range of their effects, and experimenting with the power of his White Staff. Though far from perfect, his control over his abilities steadily improved.
Afterward, he spent half a day studying the top-ranked Clans, watching their battles on the Guild’s massive Monitor. It dawned on him that Garm hadn’t been entirely wrong. The next time they met up, Tsutomu offered Garm a sincere apology.
――▽▽――
“Usually, when someone takes a hit, they just gulp down a Potion mid-fight. It’s rare to see healing skills used in the heat of battle,” Garm explained.
“But Potions cost ten thousand Gold at the very least!” Tsutomu retorted. “That’s exorbitant. I’ve watched countless parties stagger back from the field, their wallets empty. They might level up, but they can barely afford a meal. No wonder they’re stuck in the Grasslands.”
“Wow, Tsutomu, you really have a sharp tongue for those useless bugs,” Amy teased.
The term ‘useless bugs’ was often used derisively by other Explorers to describe parties trapped in the Grasslands, unable to progress beyond the tenth layer. Tsutomu personally disliked the term, finding it insulting to actual bugs, and avoided using it himself.
As their conversation continued, five more Goblins emerged. Tsutomu promptly cast <<Protect>> over the group, while Amy and Garm surged forward, leaving Tsutomu to lag behind.
Tsutomu was eager to abandon this clumsy, parasitic approach to Dungeon exploration, but the Guild had strongly advised him to adhere to Garm’s methods until he reached level 10.
Moreover, following that initial mishap, Garm had shown signs of wear, so Tsutomu had resolved to stick to Garm’s directives until he attained a respectable level. The only concession he had made, driven by stubborn determination, was to refine his <<Heal>> spells for accuracy.
Currently, the favored formation among Explorers — or at least among the dominant Clans — was a lineup of four Attackers supported by a single Healer. This challenging strategy, which did have its use in the game, involved Attackers doubling as Tanks while swiftly dispatching enemies. Tsutomu had felt a surge of excitement upon first learning about its use in this world, but his enthusiasm waned as he watched the live broadcasts of major Clans on the Guild’s enormous monitor.
The basic plan unfolded as follows: the Healer would cast support spells at the outset, then the Attackers would charge into the fray. Wounded members would rely on Potions for recovery, while the Healer remained in the background. The Healer’s sole role, then, was to revive fallen comrades when necessary.
What astonished Tsutomu most was how expendable Healers were treated. Magic skills drew from mental energy — represented by the MND status rating visible on Status Cards, and in every party he had observed, Healers would expend nearly all their mental energy reviving fallen members and casting support spells.
Monsters, recognizing the Healer as a significant threat due to the aggro generated by the use of recovery and support skills, would concentrate their attacks on them. Even as the Healers’ mental energy dwindled and they became prime targets, they were abandoned by the Attackers who focused instead on defeating other enemies, leaving the Healers to fend for themselves.
At one point, Tsutomu had asked Garm why Explorers did things this way, and the explanation he got was that major Clans employed this strategy to maximize power and push through the deepest Dungeon layers. They accepted losses as a given, relying on Potions for quick recovery and utilizing Healers solely to revive fallen party members after unexpected assaults.
When major Clans ventured into uncharted depths, their exploits were broadcast on the city’s largest Monitors, as well as the ones in the Guild. As individual Explorers’ fame soared, so did their Clan’s prestige.
This rise in prominence turned their equipment into coveted symbols. Whenever a party appeared on the giant Monitors, there was an 80% chance they would be approached by armory and weaponry vendors eager to promote their gear. These sponsors, combined with gifts from enthusiastic admirers and fees from media interviews, offset any financial deficits the Clans might incur.
The strategy itself was not an issue — if handled correctly, it could be quite effective. The problem, however, was that it was emulated by lower-ranked Clans and parties without any understanding of its nuances.
Even the top Clans struggled to balance their books with this strategy, so it was inevitable that the less fortunate would find themselves in the red. Yet, many were driven by the delusion that success was just around the corner, believing that if the renowned Explorers could thrive, so could they. This led to reckless Dungeon explorations, often resulting in devastating losses or complete obliteration. Most equipment ended up either consumed by the Dungeon or scavenged by other Explorers, leaving behind only a single trinket and tattered clothing.
Healers and luggage carriers, being physically weaker than Attackers, frequently bore the brunt of frustration when the anticipated profits failed to materialize. They were threatened, marginalized, and received unfair shares of the spoils. Tsutomu had witnessed many such injustices within the Guild, and it left him deeply unsettled.
[Healers mistreated? Heh, and I thought I was in a fantasy world, not a clown world! Healers are crucial to any party. I refuse to accept them being treated as mere resurrection tools!]
Tsutomu questioned whether game strategies could truly be adapted to the harsh realities of this world. After all, in this realm, a decapitation meant irreversible death. He could understand some rationale behind the way Healers were utilized, but he could not condone their mistreatment.
What irked Tsutomu the most was that even Amy and Garm seemed to endorse the strategy to some degree. Amy, in particular, often made offhand remarks that diminished the value of Healers without realizing the impact of her words.
[I’ll change that perception first,] Tsutomu resolved. He was confident that today, he would reach level 10. Once he did, he would assume leadership of the party, gaining a degree of authority from the Guild.
After they had dispatched several dozen Goblins, Tsutomu was certain his level had risen and immediately proposed they return to the Guild.
“All right, let’s head back! Right now!” he declared. “And when we’re there, I have something I’d like to try. Do you two have a moment?”
“Tsutomu’s suddenly full of energy… Is he all right? He’s not going to ask me for anything… naughty, is he?” Amy said, playing with the Magic Stone Scraps and flashing a teasing grin.
Garm shot her a frosty glare. “Tsutomu’s not the type to make perverted requests. Especially not with your scrawny body.”
“Oh? If you want to die that badly, just say the word. I can take you out the moment we’re out of the Dungeon.”
“Try it if you think you can.”
“Why are you two at each other’s throats all of a sudden!?”
Amy flung the Magic Stone Scraps she was holding and lunged at Garm. Tsutomu quickly interposed himself between them, gathering the scattered Magic Stones as he worked to de-escalate the confrontation.
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Ty for the chapter!! 😀
thank you. for the chapter