Evil Avalon
Deep in the sixteenth floor of the dungeon.
Thick clouds swirled across the entire sky, while undead wandered about here and there, dragging their decaying bodies along and crying out in resentment.
As I gazed at that gloomy scenery, I sat down on a suitably sized rock and listened to the energetic voice coming from my terminal.
It was Satsuki, my best friend and classmate.
"Then I'll tell Risa that you can't join us today!"
"Sorry. I already sent you an email explaining what happened with the arena."
"It sounds like things have gotten pretty serious... but don't push yourself too hard!"
Today, everyone had planned to meet up and go shopping in preparation for the dungeon training camp—or rather, the Akagi-kun training mission.
However, I had suddenly become unable to participate because of an urgent matter, so I was apologizing to Satsuki over the phone.
Just as I was about to say something else—
"Gwooo... ooo..."
Apparently, an undead had spawned nearby without me noticing.
It was a Skeleton Knight with just enough scraps of flesh clinging to its bones to qualify as a corpse.
It slowly raised the warped sword in its hand, fixed its gaze on me, and began accelerating toward me.
However, there was a fifteen-level difference between us.
Even if it caught me off guard, there was no way I would lose.
Defeating a monster this far below my level would be trivial.
But there was an even more convenient technique I could use.
"Back off, undead."
I released a fairly strong burst of magical power, as though simply telling it to get out of my way.
The Skeleton Knight seemed to become frightened when exposed to my magic.
It immediately turned around and sprinted away at full speed in a completely different direction.
The skill 《Aura》 was originally meant to be used like this—to scatter monsters that were far weaker than you.
Yet in this world, there were far too many idiots who used it to intimidate other people.
I'd like to tell them to go back and relearn everything from scratch before becoming adventurers...
But putting that aside.
"Satsuki, has anything unusual happened on your end?"
"Hmm? Majima-kun apparently plans to change his main weapon to a greatsword, so that's about the only thing. He's really fired up about it. It's good that he's motivated, but... ah, looks like everyone has arrived."
"I'll definitely make it up to you later. I'll let you know if anything else happens."
"Okay! You do your best too, Souta!"
Majima-kun would also be joining the Akagi-kun training mission.
He seemed to be extremely enthusiastic about it, but I just hoped he wouldn't cause Satsuki any trouble...
I had actually planned to go and support them myself, but circumstances had made that impossible.
For now, I had no choice but to rely on my best friend.
After taking a breath and ending the call, I raised my head.
In the distance, I could see two people running a race while kicking up enormous clouds of dust.
My little sister, dressed in light armor, and Chi-chan, wearing a Japanese-style outfit.
I couldn't understand where they got that much stamina from, but well...
As long as they were healthy and energetic, that was all that mattered.
Nearby, a man dressed in a tracksuit had been fiddling with his terminal.
—Mamiya Subaru.
He watched my sisters displaying their seemingly bottomless stamina with admiration before handing me a sheet of paper.
"Will this do for now? If there aren't any problems, I'd like to discuss the important matter..."
"...It seems to be functioning properly. As for what you said, Mamiya-san..."
What he had handed me was a "Contract Magic Book."
It was meant to establish a mutual agreement.
Mamiya would promise not to publicly reveal my knowledge as a player, while I would promise not to reveal the secrets surrounding "Oboro" to anyone or do anything that might cause them disadvantage.
Looking at the paper, I could see magical power flowing neatly along the magic circle drawn on its surface.
The contract magic was already active.
The Contract Magic Book was designed so that if either party broke the contract, the magic circle drawn on the paper would burn, making the violation immediately apparent.
By having one copy each, we could monitor one another and make sure neither of us leaked the other's secrets.
I had decided that a contract was necessary if Mamiya and I were going to work together from now on, which was why I had brought it with me.
And there was one more contract.
For Mamiya, this was the real one.
"In exchange for me training Chi-chan, Mamiya-san will become a member of EEE and contribute to the fullest extent possible... Are you really okay with these conditions?"
"Whether I'm okay with them or not... If it means I can borrow your strength, I want to cooperate with you with everything I have. That's how much I believe it's worth."
Mamiya Subaru's wish was to raise his younger sister, Mamiya Chizuru, to the highest heights.
Despite appearances, she was a genius who possessed talent and ability far beyond his own.
He calmly declared that he was prepared to do anything for her sake.
Apparently, even the reason he had inherited the Mamiya family was because he didn't want troublesome family matters to waste his sister's time.
This contract wouldn't use a Contract Magic Book.
There was something even more frightening and powerful prepared for it.
Mamiya took off his jacket to expose his left shoulder and showed me a tattoo infused with magical power.
It was a type of contract magic engraved directly onto the body.
The contract magic engraved there wasn't merely magic.
It was a "curse."
Normally, even if someone suffered damage severe enough to completely lose an arm, recovery magic could regenerate everything from the bones and blood vessels to the nerves and skin.
However, damage caused by contract magic could not be healed unless advanced curse-removal magic was applied.
It was a terrifying form of magic that could potentially cost someone their life.
In contrast, I said that a verbal promise alone was enough for me when it came to this contract.
In other words, I would face no penalty even if I abandoned training Chi-chan.
Mamiya, on the other hand, had the engraved magic circle activate if he betrayed EEE, burning away everything from his shoulder onward.
If things went badly, it could even result in his death.
Why would he enter into such a one-sided and unequal contract?
...
I suppose this was Mamiya's way of showing his sincerity.
He was betting that much on Chi-chan.
Even now, I quietly looked toward the girl in the Japanese-style outfit who was engaged in a heated race with my little sister across this wasteland crawling with undead.
I was a player, so I had a general understanding of the characteristics of the heroines from DanEx.
From the beginning, Chi-chan possessed a unique skill that greatly increased her MP capacity, as well as a barrier skill called 《Mana Protection》 that converted HP damage into MP consumption.
When these two skills were used together, she could create an extremely sturdy defense despite being a mage.
As a result, she could not only engage in close-quarters combat while serving as a tank, but could also stay in the rear and unleash powerful magic to burn an entire area as an attacker.
She was an extremely versatile character who could take on a wide variety of roles regardless of the opponent.
Mamiya had also recognized that potential and apparently taught her every technique he possessed.
However, he had concluded that further growth would require the knowledge and experience of a god-tier player.
As the price for that, he had offered to engrave contract magic onto his own arm and swear loyalty to EEE.
After seeing that level of determination...
How could I refuse?
"Understood. However, my specialty is close-quarters combat. I'm not even confident that I'll be able to teach that properly, but if you're okay with that, I'll give it a try."
"Then the contract is settled. After that... it's up to Chizuru."
As he straightened the collar of his tracksuit, Mamiya gazed gently at Chi-chan.
If this man became our ally, it would give us considerably more options for dealing with the difficult future awaiting us.
For that reason, I wanted to carefully determine what Mamiya was thinking, what he was aiming for, and, naturally, what kind of organization Oboro was behind him.
I planned to start observing him together with Kano today, but first, I wanted to ask if he had any particular training goals or development plans for Chi-chan.
"Originally, I was planning to leave her with my childhood friend, Kirara-chan, and have her train within a group."
"Kusunoki-senpai?"
Kusunoki Kirara—better known as Kirara-chan—was the second-ranked student in her second year at Adventurer High School and the head of the Thief Research Club, one of the Eight Dragons.
Like the Mamiya family, she was the daughter of a viscount.
That was merely her public identity, however.
Behind the scenes, she operated as a member of the intelligence organization "Kunoichi Red."
Chi-chan had admired Kirara-chan since childhood, to the point that she would follow her around everywhere.
She had apparently planned to join the Thief Research Club when she entered high school and work together with Kirara.
Mamiya had wanted her to learn how to operate as part of a group and how to think as someone working in the shadows.
I see.
Considering that she would eventually be working within the dark organization known as Oboro, it wasn't a bad choice.
More importantly, Clan Leader Mikami Haruka was also behind Kirara-chan.
Oboro was already being targeted by organizations such as Kinrankai and Colors.
So even if something happened to Mamiya, his sister might still be protected if she was under the care of Mikami, who possessed tremendous influence in political and business circles.
That was probably another reason behind his decision.
While we were having this conversation...
The problematic sisters were heading toward us.
Apparently, my little sister had arrived a little earlier.
"I wooooon!"
"Haa... haa... How? I won last time... You must be hiding something! You definitely are!"
Kano basked in the afterglow of victory while raising both hands in a triumphant pose.
Meanwhile, Chi-chan had won their previous race, so she couldn't understand why she had lost this time.
She desperately demanded to know what Kano was hiding, but Kano simply brushed her off with:
"This is the difference in our abilities."
Chi-chan stomped her feet in frustration.
(I bet she used that...)
This place was a wasteland with so much sand that it could practically be called a sand dune.
If you ran normally, your feet would sink into the sand and your speed would drop dramatically.
But Kano had secretly used a skill to avoid that problem.
Chi-chan had apparently noticed from the flow of magical power that Kano had done something, but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
That was why she was pressing Kano for an explanation.
I'd think carefully about Chi-chan's training plan later.
But first, there was something I wanted to show her, both to explain the secret behind the race and to give her a rough idea of what a player's tactics were actually like.
"Kano, this is a good opportunity. Let's have a little hand-to-hand combat. Use that."
"Huh? You're okay with me showing it?"
Despite having been running around the sand dunes this entire time, Kano enthusiastically brought her fists together with a sharp smack.
It hadn't been long since I taught her this new tactic, so I couldn't exactly say that she had mastered it.
But she should at least have gotten the basic form down.
After confirming that the Mamiya siblings had looked at each other and moved away to give us some space, I slowly stood up and began gathering magical power.
Kano likewise began gathering her magic, making it surge and ripple as she watched for my opening.
She was boldly telling me, "Come at me."
In that case, I wouldn't hold back.
I shifted my weight forward and stepped in, closing the distance in an instant before throwing a punch that seemed to slice through the air.
Rather than block it, Kano spun her body around and dodged.
Then she caused her magical power to explode.
"Here we go! Kano-chan's brand-new stage begins! Act Two!"
"...What?!"
Kano raised her arm as though conducting an orchestra with a baton.
Countless green, glowing footholds appeared in midair, and she immediately began running up them at full speed.
It was the upper-class job 【Sword Dancer】's skill, 《Aerial》.
Chi-chan's mouth fell open in astonishment, while her older brother Mamiya watched with an increasingly interested smile.
What I was about to do was teach her how to use 《Aerial》.
Incidentally, the reason Kano had won the footrace was because she had secretly created footholds with 《Aerial》 and placed them invisibly beneath the sand, preventing her feet from sinking into it.
My little sister certainly had a talent for mischievous tricks.
I kept my eyes fixed on Kano as she ran through the air.
Suddenly, she began changing her speed and leaping in a zigzag pattern.
It resembled the trajectory I used with 《Aerial》.
She was cleverly aiming for my blind spot.
...
But it was painfully obvious.
"Got you nowww... Wait, GYAAAAAA! Why?!"
Kano tried to extend her foot toward a foothold that had appeared directly behind me, in my blind spot.
The moment she did, I was ready.
I grabbed her ankle and hurled her away with all my strength.
Kano went flying while screaming about how I had possibly known when she was going to attack.
The footholds used for attacking should be created immediately before landing.
Otherwise, it's basically the same as announcing, "I'm going to come here, so please attack me."
At the very least, she needed to create multiple dummy footholds to prevent the opponent from predicting her route.
Furthermore, although she thought she was targeting my blind spot, that opening had been deliberately shown to her.
The fact that she hadn't realized she was being lured in was a problem.
I acknowledged that she had excellent combat instincts and more than enough dynamic vision.
However, she was still very inexperienced when it came to reading her opponent.
At this level, the technique wouldn't be useful in actual combat.
She needed to raise its level of completion by several stages.
"So, that's the kind of thing I've been teaching my little sister as a new tactic..."
"Th-that was incredibly fast...! Please teach me that too!"
"...Before that, we need to run various tests."
Chi-chan approached me with trembling fists, practically demanding that I teach her immediately.
However, the 《Aerial》 strategy required extremely tricky movements, so whether someone was suited to it depended heavily on their individual compatibility.
Kano had been bouncing around on the footholds and fighting as though it were nothing.
But from the user's perspective, her entire field of vision was constantly rushing past at high speed in every direction.
The kinetic energy placed on her legs was also considerable.
Even under those circumstances, she had to keep track of the ground, obstacles, and distance from her opponent while accurately creating footholds.
If she failed at even one of those things, the technique wouldn't function.
It had taken me several months of practice before I was able to elevate this into a proper combat tactic.
Kano, however, had managed to do it on the very day she changed jobs, simply because, according to her, "I'd been imagining it for a long time."
It was unbelievable.
Chi-chan might also be a genius, but the direction of her talent leaned heavily toward magic.
I honestly thought this would be difficult for her.
What worried me was that she might practice without ever mastering it, resulting in a waste of time.
There were other skills that allowed someone to fly, so I wanted to determine her aptitude first and see which one suited her best.
I would create the footholds, and she would fly according to them.
The footholds disappeared once someone landed on them or after several seconds had passed, so she would need to step on them in the correct order while keeping that limitation in mind.
Chi-chan listened attentively, nodding obediently as she went, "Hmm, hmm," in understanding.
But Kano, who had been sent flying into the distance, had somehow already returned.
"I wonder if Chi-chan caaaan do it... Fufun."
"Of course I can! Please let me try!"
Kano relentlessly provoked her.
In an instant, Chi-chan's competitive spirit awakened.
Her nostrils flared as she became fired up.
With Mamiya watching the proceedings with interest, the test began.
First, I created a foothold nearby for her to run up.
From there, I gradually placed additional footholds at increasingly higher elevations.
At first, Chi-chan managed to land on them properly and jump from one to another.
But as I gradually increased the speed at which I created them, she began to lose her balance.
Eventually, she missed her footing and fell.
From a height of about ten meters above the ground, Chi-chan came crashing down with a tremendous impact, kicking up a cloud of sand.
Kano happily danced over to her, doing a ridiculous octopus-like dance as she taunted her.
Well...
This was about what I expected.
If she continued practicing like this, there was a possibility that she could eventually master it.
But I had no idea how long it would take before she could actually use it in combat against an opponent of equal strength.
To begin with, 《Aerial》 had extremely poor compatibility with mages.
Mages needed to remain stationary in midair while gathering magical power, chanting spells, and drawing complicated magic circles.
The 《Aerial》 style of constantly hopping around on footholds wasn't well suited to them.
I never expected Chi-chan to succeed right away, either.
If she wanted to practice, I was willing to help her later.
But for now, it might be better to try a different tactic first.
"...Then, what other options are there?"
"I'd recommend the 《Fly》 strategy."
"That's the signature technique of the Holy Empire, which Mikhailo Maxim also used."
Chi-chan, who had been on the verge of tears after being teased, apparently wanted to try 《Aerial》 a little longer.
But when she heard that there was another option, she clung to me and asked me to teach her that instead.
So I recommended 《Fly》, which allowed the user to float and glide through the air.
Remembering the battle in Tokyo, Mamiya nodded deeply in understanding.
《Fly》 was one of Arthur's primary combat tactics.
When mastered, it was an excellent skill that could dramatically increase combat power not only in magical battles but also in close-quarters combat.
It also had the characteristic of becoming faster the more magical power was used.
For that reason, I thought it would be particularly compatible with Chi-chan, who possessed an enormous amount of MP.
I could teach her a little myself, but I hadn't learned 《Fly》.
It might be better to call Arthur in as her coach.
He also used it in rather tricky ways, so I wasn't sure whether she would be able to learn it.
But before that, she would need to change jobs in order to learn the skill.
We should check that first.
"Are you okay with changing jobs? If your skill slots are full, you'll have to delete something."
"Yes, that's fine... But if it's a hidden advanced job, wouldn't I need a special job-change item?"
Changing jobs was simple up through intermediate jobs.
All you had to do was concentrate on the job-change crystal.
However, to take an advanced job that allowed you to learn more sophisticated skills, you needed the corresponding job-change item.
And 《Fly》 was famous as a skill hidden by the Holy Empire, the greatest adventurer nation in Eastern Europe.
Naturally, neither the job capable of learning it nor the corresponding job-change item was publicly known.
Chi-chan seemed worried as she asked whether I understood all of this.
But to me, something like that hardly qualified as hidden at all.
In fact, I had collected and secured a large number of various job-change items during our journey, including ones for Satsuki and Tenma-san.
Mamiya should also learn some kind of flight skill if he was going to fight alongside us.
Being able to fly could create an overwhelming advantage in PvP.
Conversely, if you didn't have a flight skill, fighting someone like the Holy Empire, whose members possessed flight abilities, would put you at an enormous disadvantage.
I suggested that surely he didn't want to be forced into walking a tightrope hundreds of meters above the ground again.
But Mamiya merely tilted his head again and again.
"Even so, this is my first time entering a dungeon today, so when you start talking about jobs and skills, I honestly have no idea what's what."
"What?! Your first time?! Then you're a 【Newbie】?! A-are you going to be okay?!"
"There is no problem. My brother can become stronger without relying on dungeons."
Mamiya Subaru was an absurd man who had raised his level exclusively through PvP.
He had never entered a dungeon even once.
In fact, we'd had to drag him all the way here today despite his reluctance.
As a result, he had never graduated from his initial job, 【Newbie】, and therefore couldn't even take an advanced job.
Upon hearing this shocking fact, Kano seemed so overwhelmed that she resumed her ridiculous octopus dance.
But looking at it from another perspective, this meant that we could have him acquire his skills in proper order from the very beginning.
We could maximize his skill slots.
We could also add the ability and stat bonuses provided by various skills and jobs to Mamiya's current abilities.
His combat ability was already terrifying enough as it was.
And yet, he still had enormous room for growth.
I wanted to support the talented Mamiya siblings with their job changes and skill acquisition.
But I also wanted to teach Kano new tactics.
And considering the arena, I needed to check my coordination with Mamiya as well...
Of all those things, job changing was probably the highest priority.
We should be able to finish it within a single day.
And then—
(Tomorrow, the main event begins: Tenma-san's curse-removal quest.)
The difficulty of the quest itself was exceptionally high, which was a problem.
But before that, we absolutely had to complete the Akagi-kun training mission.
And even that had an even more fundamental prerequisite.
Nothing could begin unless Akagi-kun and Tenma-san became close.
Up until now, I hadn't seriously faced Akagi-kun head-on.
Or rather, I'd basically left him alone because I believed that if I left things to him, he'd somehow resolve everything himself.
But this time, I intended to face him directly.
I wanted to use this opportunity to understand Akagi-kun more deeply and help him build a relationship with Tenma-san.
That was my role this time.
Though I had absolutely no confidence that it would go smoothly.
As I reviewed everything I needed to do and thought about various things, Kano looked at my face with an unhappy expression.
"Onii is making that serious face again! Hey, have another match with me!"
"Before that, please continue the test we were doing! If we try it a few more times, I can figure out the trick—"
"It's useless! That's a secret technique that belongs only to Onii and me!"
Kano continued provoking her, while Chi-chan's competitive spirit burned hotter and hotter.
The two of them possessed extraordinary talent and were constantly stimulating each other.
They were overflowing with motivation.
As their older brother, I had to keep a close eye on them so that all that motivation didn't turn into recklessness.
...
Even so, my family and comrades were steadily growing stronger.
And now we'd also gained the powerful card that was the Mamiya siblings.
Our ability to deal with difficult quests had unquestionably increased by leaps and bounds compared with just a month ago.
I was moving forward.
Training Arc would be dope at least we wouldn't see MC pretending at School for awhile with the start of the Summer break.
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