Chapter 13, Investigation

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

 

With Arisa and the others now included, Kousuke and his group immediately headed for the 41st Floor. The journey proceeded as usual until they reached the 42nd Floor, investigating the route to the portal and the monsters in the area along the way.

 

Having Arisa and the others there proved to be a pleasant surprise, allowing them to investigate from perspectives different from what they had relied on up until the 41st Floor. At the very least, their observations were more realistic than if they had come solely from Kousuke’s group.

 

Kousuke’s perspective was based on the combat abilities of the two cheats, so there were inevitably some blind spots in their assessment.

 

When they arrived at the portal leading to the 42nd Floor, their first priority was to check whether the Floor they had reached would be displayed on Arisa and the others’ cards. When they had initially arrived on the 41st Floor, the cards had been in their initial state, showing only the 1st Floor.

 

After passing through the portal to the 42nd Floor, they confirmed that the Floor reached on the card was indeed updated. This verified that the card updated when passing through a portal to the upper Floor, which was one Floor up.

 

The next thing to check was what would happen if someone went from the 45th Floor to the 46th Floor with a card currently showing the 42nd Floor. If the card simply updated whenever someone passed through a portal in the Tower, it should update to show the 46th Floor. However, this was not the case when they were creating shortcuts every five Floors. They had already confirmed that the card would not update in such circumstances.

 

“So, this concludes the confirmation tests I needed to conduct with Cecil and Arisa following me,” Kousuke said after checking their cards.

 

“Okay. So next we need to check the 45th Floor, right?” Cecil confirmed with Kousuke.

 

“That’s right. Please wait a while and don’t conquer beyond the 43rd Floor.”

 

“I understand. I’ll investigate the lower Floors until Kousuke-sama and the others conquer them.”

 

“Yeah, that should work. Well, I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long to reach the 45th Floor, though.”

 

The three of them, except for Mitsuki, gave Kousuke a bitter smile. His casual comment revealed a sense of things that was far beyond normal. Typically, conquering each Floor took more than a week. Of course, depending on the Adventurer’s level, the lower Floors could sometimes be completed quickly, but for Kousuke, this rapid pace was his standard approach to any Floor.

 

They were currently between the middle and upper Floors of the Tower, where no Adventurers could clear Floors this quickly. Kousuke claimed to be proceeding at a pace suitable for the average person, but that was just his ‘intention’. Now that they had the noble objective of establishing a guild, it was highly likely that his self-restraint would diminish.

 

That said, the true effectiveness of a guild depended on more than just one outstanding party. A guild with only one exceptional group would certainly attract attention, but it would not have substantial influence in the broader scheme of things.

 

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After parting ways with Kousuke’s group, Cecil and Arisa returned to the 40th Floor by themselves. From there, they teleported to the entrance to see what the guild was like.

 

With their skills, returning to the 40th Floor posed no challenge. However, since they traveled on foot, the journey took about three days. This seems faster than Kousuke’s Floor-clearing speed, but considering it was just the distance of one Floor, it was not particularly impressive.

 

When Cecil and Arisa arrived at the 1st Floor through the portal, they bypassed the Tower Conquest Guild, so no one noticed that the two recent registrants had already conquered the 41st Floor. They had no intention of drawing attention to this achievement yet, so they returned to their own guild without mentioning it.

 

Upon their return to Wolf Fang, they happened to encounter Roman and his companions. Despite the building’s size, people living under the same roof were bound to cross paths frequently unless they were away on expeditions.

 

Roman, spotting Arisa, approached her with a slightly serious expression. Seeing his face, Arisa immediately realized he wanted to ask her something. It was an expression she had seen countless times during his training days, and she had a good idea what he wanted to discuss—it could only be related to Kousuke and his group.

 

As Arisa contemplated this, Roman came up to her and spoke. “Teacher Arisa, what kind of Adventurer is Kou?”

 

At the welcome party, Kousuke had introduced himself simply as ‘Kou’. Arisa considered Roman’s question briefly before responding.

 

“I taught you to develop the ability to assess others’ abilities to survive as an Adventurer, didn’t I?”

 

Whether facing humans or monsters, failing to instantly gauge an opponent’s capabilities could result in death. That was why they repeatedly emphasized at the training school the importance of developing this skill.

 

Of course, this was not easy to master. Nevertheless, Roman was one of the students who earnestly tried to follow that teaching.

 

Roman looked frustrated momentarily before sighing. “…I’m sorry. I didn’t think he had much skill. It’s just…”

 

“Yes?” Arisa prompted him to continue.

 

Roman hesitated briefly before elaborating. “From what I’ve seen of how you and the others have responded, he has considerable ability, right?”

 

Arisa thought to herself, [He passed]. After hearing Roman’s answer. One did not need to rely solely on personal judgment to assess someone’s strength. Especially as a novice Adventurer, it was often impossible to accurately gauge someone more powerful than oneself.

 

In such situations, as Roman had just demonstrated, it was crucial to observe the reactions of experienced Adventurers and adjust one’s approach accordingly. In this regard, Arisa gave him a mental ‘pass’.

 

However, she deliberately avoided telling him his answer was correct, believing this was something he should eventually realize on his own.

 

Instead of giving Roman the direct answer he sought, Arisa replied with something slightly tangential. “I wonder? But Kou-sama is also being observed by the other three department heads, starting with Gazeran.”

 

At the mention of the department heads, she knew they would not get involved. She was not concerned that Roman and his friends would do anything foolish; rather, she hoped the rumor would spread through them.

 

As expected, Roman looked surprised. “Even the department heads…”

 

After a moment, his expression cleared, as if he had resolved something in his mind. “I understand. Thank you for answering.”

 

“It’s fine. If it’s only this much, I’ll tell you anytime.”

 

“A part of the basics of being an Adventurer is information gathering, after all.”

 

Arisa smiled as Roman repeated one of the fundamental lessons from the training school. “Yes, that’s right. Anyway, let’s both do our best in our activities at Seichun.”

 

“Yes. Thank you.” After hearing Arisa’s words, Roman bowed respectfully and returned to his friends.