Chapter 120

The day after the dungeon containment meeting, the primary members, centered around Gary, gathered in the outskirts of Dresden.

This was so the five of them—Gary, Lady Clara, Rosetta, Ria, and Yoshioka—could showcase their respective abilities, coordinate their fighting styles, and form a proper party.

Let us take a look at each of their characteristics here.

Gary Levi: The Hero.
He effortlessly wields a massive greatsword measuring two meters in length. His slashing style, which unleashes shockwaves as he cuts in, makes it impossible to escape unscathed even with a slight dodge. It is said he can decapitate a dragon with a single stroke. He boasts the absolute highest strength when it comes to single targets.

Clara Ansbach: The Knight.
Her primary weapon is a halberd, but she can essentially handle any weapon put in her hands. She is exceptionally well-balanced in both offense and defense. She is the finest wielder of ice magic in the kingdom, and she can also utilize area-of-effect spells. However, because area-of-effect spells carry a risk of caught up allies, she cannot unleash them at full power unless her companions are above a certain level of competency.

Rosetta Urbano: Member of the Knights Templar.
A wielder of holy magic. She displays unmatched strength against undead monsters such as zombies and skeletons.

Ria Geist: The Summoner.
While she possesses decent martial skills, she inevitably falls short in terms of pure combat power compared to the other three. However, when she summons Akito Yoshioka, Yoshioka’s magical power temporarily skyrockets, making his firepower the highest in the entire party. She is truly their ultimate trump card. When summoning Yoshioka, Ria’s own abilities experience a dramatic surge as well.

Akito Yoshioka: The Sage.
He utilizes both attack and recovery magic. While he accompanies the party, intentionally being summoned on the spot boosts his abilities as mentioned above. In order to be summoned, he must stand at least one meter away from Ria.

It went something like that.

And I, Kota Hinoharu, would be accompanying them as well.

Possessing skills like Night Vision and Dog’s Nose made me a perfect fit for a scouting role.

That being said, this particular role wasn’t strictly necessary during the initial dungeon containment operation. It would likely prove useful afterward, during the dungeon investigation operation.

However, I had begged Lady Clara and Gary to let me tag along anyway.

The reason was to prepare for the absolute worst-case scenario. Even if the party faced a total collapse, we could safely escape as long as I used my Transfer Portal skill. Plus, as an added option, I could heal everyone using my God Finger.

While everyone else was busy with combat training, I found myself with a lot of free time.

After all, I wouldn’t be participating in the actual fighting. My power was certainly superior to that of an ordinary soldier, but it wasn’t on the level of slaughtering monsters left and right. The only skill I had that was useful in a fight against monsters was Magic Bomb.

Since it was a good opportunity, I moved a short distance away from the rest of the group and experimented with Magic Bomb all by myself.

…I wasn’t sulking.

…No, really.

Magic Bomb felt like a plastic explosive made entirely of magic. I spent some time kneading it like clay, shaping it into various forms. Since I could even apply color to it, I went ahead and crafted bombs that looked exactly like grapes or sanshoku dango (a traditional three-colored Japanese sweet skewer).

When I threw them complete with the skewer, the destructive power was top-notch. The grapes glowed purple and the dango glowed pink and green, which was quite entertaining. I detonated them on top of a hill, and the ground caved in slightly.

If I could have Oliver Bach forge some iron tubes for me, I might be able to create makeshift hand grenades. And if I teamed up with Fiene, our former hunter, we could probably craft some highly interesting traps.

Before long, the surrounding noise faded from my awareness entirely, and I became completely engrossed in my Magic Bomb experiments.

Juliana Ceberai sat in her private room, listening to gossip about the royal palace from her tutor, Lara Barbe.

“So, is it true that the Minister of Military Affairs hurled insults at Mr. Hinoharu?”

“Yes…”

What Juliana was asking about was the events from yesterday’s dungeon containment strategy meeting.

“I see… I wonder what would be the best way to kill him. Let’s start by crushing his throat so he can never utter such profanity again… Hehehe.”

Lara cringed upon seeing Juliana’s expression. The otherwise exquisite face of the saint was horribly warped with pure hatred.

“Lady Juliana, I hear the Minister of Military Affairs offered an immediate apology to Mr. Hinoharu right afterward,” the maid, Karina Angerer, gently offered to pacify Juliana.

“Even so, the fact that the Minister of Military Affairs dared to yell at Mr. Hinoharu remains unchanged. That alone makes him worthy of ten thousand deaths.”

Juliana continued to pour curses upon the minister, prompting Karina to smoothly shift the topic to something else.

“Still, it was quite a shock to learn that Mr. Hinoharu is a summoned beast from another world. And to think he is a dependent of our guardian angel, Lord Seraphim.”

“Exactly! I knew Mr. Hinoharu was my fated one after all!” An excited Juliana continued, her cheeks flushing a deep rose. “The gods must have dispatched Mr. Hinoharu directly to my side.”

Kota Hinoharu was actually Clara Ansbach’s summoned beast, not Juliana’s.

Both Karina and Lara realized this instantly, but neither committed the foolish error of pointing it out.

“Since Mr. Hinoharu carries a sublime mission, we must leave him in peace for the time being. However, once his duties are fulfilled, we must comfort him with everything we have.”

“Yes, milady.” Karina and Lara bowed obediently.

“How is that matter progressing?”

“We have already commissioned the West Continent Company and successfully purchased the land. As for the mansion, Lord Heuberger is scheduled to travel to the site and finalize the arrangements.”

Juliana had utilized the funds obtained through the Condemnation Bandits to acquire a massive tobacco plantation on the West Continent. Investing in the West Continent had become quite a trend among nobles lately.

“Tell me, Karina. Do you think Mr. Hinoharu will like the West Continent?”

“I am certain he will…”

“Yes. No matter where we are, I shall create a paradise just for him…”

With a rapturous expression, Juliana stared into the empty space. No one else could see it, but to her, a vision of Hinoharu and Juliana living together in a southern paradise seemed perfectly clear.

With the dungeon’s emergence only two days away, Dresden was wrapped in a heavily guarded atmosphere.

Cordon lines were set up around the aqueducts where the entrance was expected to open, and the vagrants who used to stay there were already gone. Guard posts at each entrance and exit were manned by alert guard units on a company scale.

Officials from the Ministry of Engineering inspected the site, beginning to draw up blueprints for the future management of the dungeon, while merchants scrambled to get their hands on any information, desperate to make a fortune with a new business venture.

Moving through the buzzing city, I was disguised as Shonai as I headed toward the royal palace.

This was because I had heard that the Second Princess, Lady Anneliese, was to be formally betrothed to the Prince of Francea, an allied nation.

Lady Anneliese was the princess to whom I had performed a full-body beauty treatment. Aside from the fact that she had lined my pockets with three hundred million marques, we had also become close on a personal level, so I came to present her with a celebratory gift.

Various large and small banquets were held almost daily at court, and on this day, a small-scale banquet was taking place, which Lady Anneliese was attending. Since Shonai had already been granted permission to enter and leave the royal palace, meeting Lady Anneliese was easy.

“Shonai. It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? But I am so happy to see you.”

When I wove through the crowd to greet Lady Anneliese, she was exceedingly delighted.

“Allow me to offer my congratulations on this occasion.”

At my words of celebration, a complicated expression crossed Lady Anneliese’s face for just a fleeting second. She immediately replaced it with a smile, though…

Perhaps she felt anxious about marrying into an unfamiliar foreign country.

For the present, I had selected a wristwatch from my personal stock that I felt would suit Lady Anneliese best.

“Thank you, Shonai… I shall treasure it for the rest of my life. Would you mind putting it on for me?”

Doing as I was told, I gently fastened the watch around her wrist. Tears were welling up in Lady Anneliese’s eyes.

“Lady Anneliese…”

“Once I depart for Francea, I suppose we shall never meet again.”

The orchestra positioned in the corner of the room began to play a piece. An elegant waltz echoed throughout the grand hall.

“Shonai, would you dance a single song with me?”

I hesitated slightly given her status as a princess, but I took Lady Anneliese’s hand anyway. I did it because her eyes looked so incredibly sorrowful.

I activated my Dancer skill.

Even though the melody echoing through the hall was brilliant, for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel that the song carried a heavy tinge of melancholy. Because of that, I did my absolute best to lead her, focusing entirely on putting a smile on Lady Anneliese’s face.

With every turn, Lady Anneliese’s skirt billowed out, and her smile bloomed like a flower.

“Shonai…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

The vibrating chords of the string instruments ceased, and the music diffused into the room before vanishing. The time for parting had arrived.

“Lady Anneliese, I have one final gift from myself.”

“Shonai, you really do not need to go to such lengths.”

I silently shook my head. Then, pointing at the wristwatch I had just presented, I spoke.

“In fifteen minutes, please come out onto that balcony over there.”

“The balcony?”

“Yes. You must promise me.”

Leaving the grand hall, I immediately contacted Gary using the communication slate.

“Gary, please. I need your help.”

“What’s wrong? You sound flustered. What are we doing?”

“Climb up onto the castle roof with me!”

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Anneliese stepped out onto the balcony just as Shonai had instructed.

Passing through the fresh greenery, the gentle May breeze stroked her hair. Anneliese thought to herself that she would never forget the scent of this wind, the music from earlier, or this night.

Recalling the two weeks she had spent with Shonai, the tears she had been holding back finally spilled over.

Right at that moment, a booming sound accompanied by a sudden vibration rang out, and a massive flower of fire suddenly bloomed across the night sky.

“……” Anneliese was left completely speechless.

(Could this be… the other gift Shonai mentioned…)

Boom, boom, boom.

Every time a great sound echoed, beautiful flames scattered across the night sky like blooming flowers.

That night, the people of Saxens witnessed something called fireworks for the very first time in their lives.

Amidst the roaring thunder that accompanied the fireworks, Anneliese found herself crying and screaming without realizing it.

“Shonai! Shonai! Sho…nai…”

By the time the dozens of fireworks had all been launched, the balcony was overflowing with people. There was no music or human voices; following a brief moment of absolute stillness, the crowd erupted into a massive ovation.

Except for the single princess who had been gifted this massive bouquet of flowers.

Up on the roof of the royal palace, Gary and I were setting off the fireworks.

“This is the last one.”

“Okay!”

Gary grabbed the three-foot shell I had crafted using Magic Bomb and hurled it into the night sky with all his might. The Magic Bomb detonated in the exact pattern I had envisioned.

“Whew! That felt amazing. Thanks for inviting me, Kota.”

“I should be the one thanking you. Since these aren’t regular fireworks, I wouldn’t have been able to launch them normally. If you hadn’t been here, I would have had to resort to using a catapult.”

Having worked up a good sweat, the two of us toasted with cans of beer.

“May you find happiness, Lady Anneliese…”

The May breeze and the cold beer felt incredibly comforting against our heated bodies. However, the beer tonight tasted just a tiny bit more bittersweet than usual.