‘Yes. They saved us.’
Says Calotos, and the woman turns to us for the first time.
She looks pretty dazed.
It looks like she accepts what he said because she bows deeply, but I don’t know what she’s saying.
And this is when Calotos realizes we can’t hear her.
‘You can’t hear?’
I nod.
‘I see. Wait.’
Calotos goes silent, and a light suddenly illuminates the woman.
‘What did you do, Mister Calotos?’
‘They couldn’t hear you. What about now?’
“Yes, I heard her.”
Says Chris, and Calotos responds by shining brightly. Unlike the woman, he’s an actual ball of light.
‘Good then. Kaina, say it again.’
‘Yes! Thank you very much for saving Mister Calotos.’
‘No. They saved you too.’
‘Thank you very much for liberating me. My name is Kaina, and I serve as Mister Calotos’ miko.’
So she’s like Calotos’ retainer.
I don’t know how many generations that has gone on for, but apparently she was Calotos’ miko when he was attacked by the fairy god, and fought to save him.
In the end, she failed, her partners were killed, and as she was the last one alive, the fairy god decided to turn her into a stone statue on a whim.
And apparently she was brought back through the power of his thoughts.
We spend the rest of this day in the dungeon, but the next morning, I remember something.
If I remember correctly, we can’t use the device right away on the floor we entered from.
We’ll have to go to the entrance to the twenty-fifth floor if we want to leave right away.
But then Calotos speaks.
‘No problem.’
He says while walking towards the twenty-sixth floor. And sure enough, after he touches the pedestal, we can leave normally.
‘Next, let’s go to Eliana.’
But before we go, Calotos disappears back into the staff. And his power makes it so Kaina also disappears into it.
I guess there’s no way she can walk around town in that half-transparent state without causing an uproar.
Before we leave Majolica, we go to Reese to report.
“The statue on the twenty-fifth floor?”
I was unsure about this, but I figure I should explain this to her, Calotos included.
Once she starts questioning why we knew about the stone statues, I can’t get around it, so I just tell her.
Also, I’m pretty sure we can see the guildmaster so easily because we beat the dungeon.
“So that’s… Can I report this to Mister Ignis and the others?”
I guess so?
“I was waiting for you to come by to tell you this, but after some investigations, I have gathered that the titan’s skin has the power to negate magic. It doesn’t seem perfect, so once it goes over a certain threshold, the effect wears off. It looks like we might be able to use it to make magic resistant equipment.”
“…How did you investigate that? I don’t know if you can tell me, but…”
“Through my skill.”
“Appraisal?”
“Yes, you can think of it like that.”
My Appraisal can’t do that. Maybe there are high rank skills even I don’t know about.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, nothing. I was just thinking about how it would be easier for me to fight if I knew that too.”
If I knew magic could work, I might have gone with a different approach.
Judging it through firepower alone, magic is stronger. Although it also spends MP.
“…I see. Ability Appraisal, Analysis, Reading. There are many types of Appraisal, so I’m not sure which would be good.”
She must know people with those skills, if she knows about all those variants.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“We’re planning to go to the Beast Kingdom. We just received a letter.”
And yes, the letter does ask if I want to participate in the tournament.
To enter the dungeon, one must be a rank B or higher adventurer, or enter this tournament and reach the main event.
Only one member of a party has to do it, but the fact that he wrote ‘let’s have a good match!’ at the end, leads me to believe he’s using dungeon exploration privileges as a carrot on a stick.
“I see, so you will be leaving Majolica… What about Elsa and Alto?”
She asks, worried about those two.
I’m worried too, but in my case, it’s about what Shizune might do. Worst case scenario, Majolica might turn into a sea of flames.
Should we just take the three of them to the Beast Kingdom?
I should talk to the others about this, but them leaving Majolica temporarily could be an option too.
I tell that to Reese, and she says she’ll help if necessary.
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
Thanks for the treat.