CH 106

Despite those strong words, the kids looked anxious as they peeked at me with shaking eyes. I stopped listening to them in silence and interjected, “Next year.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re all expected to join the elite squad by next year.”

Silence dropped as soon as I finished speaking. Everyone looked at each other, doubting their ears, but I ate my jerky without correcting my statement. Finally realizing I was speaking the truth, Sevi jumped and cried, “Really? Can we level up that much by next year?”

“Next year? That’s impossible!” Vegan looked bewildered. He seemed to think that I was bluffing to cheer up the kids. “Right now they’re leveling up so fast because they’re at a low level… Putting aside the ‘wall of lament’, you need to be at least level 60 to join the elites, no? But there are few dungeons at that level, and you’d have to clear a whole dungeon to barely even get a level.”

The Dark Knights always had plenty of dungeons to deal with, thanks to their fame and well-funded headquarters. However, high-level dungeons after level 50 were a different story. Opportunities for these dungeons were rare because they didn’t appear very often in the first place. Yet, having no opportunity and having few opportunities were two different things. Instead of replying to Vegan’s interjection, I cast a skill. “Rich Experience!”

A visual effect only visible to me appeared above everyone’s heads, showing that the skill was working.

“This is…”

The others cast clueless looks at me. In this world, there was no method of checking what support spell was cast on yourself. It was the reason why, when I first met Axion, he was wary and distrusting of me, an unfamiliar support-type mage. There was no way of telling whether you got a buff or debuff until the spell’s effect showed. I kindly explained to them. “It’s a support spell that increases dungeon experience gained.”

Vegan jumped in surprise at that, his eyes turning wide as plates. “Are, are you being for real?”

“For real. I didn’t use it since this is our first dungeon, but I’ll be using it often in the future.”

“Wow… What an unbelievable skill.”

“It’s strictly confidential. Only the captain knew about this until now… Keep it a secret to others.”

Of course, Fabian knew about this experience spell too, but there was no need to reveal that much. He wasn’t even one of us. With a distant expression, I requested Vegan to keep tight lips and he nodded vigorously. He was amazed to the extent of not being able to speak properly. So much so that I wondered if he would collapse from shock if he knew I had awakened even Mayer’s mana after Sevi.

Even August, who knew I didn’t have just one or two strange abilities, put down the jerky he was eating in surprise. In a voice full of reverence for the goddess, he said, “Truly, Sister… You have all the abilities necessary for a dungeon raid. If that is also the will of Saint Marianne… It may be that you are a saint sent by the goddess for the purpose of defeating the demon lord.”

“N-no. It’s nothing so exaggerated…”

“But it is. Sister. You have quite the objective awareness of your own abilities, but you often tend to underestimate their value.”

I was rendered speechless by August beginning to over-interpret things. Vegan, who had been muttered to himself for a long while, spoke up with great excitement, “No wonder. I thought it strange when His Excellency granted permission to form the special unit with only recruits. It’s a long-term project, after all. But with a skill like yours, it’s definitely…”

“If we push the kids a bit, we should be able to manage to meet standards by next year, yes,” I replied in a hurry. August’s words were burdensome. The situation wasn’t all that easy just because we had an experience increasing skill. In the first playthrough, the dungeon gate to the demon lord’s castle had opened about 3 years after I possessed Jun’s body, but that timing wasn’t fixed. It could change at the speed at which the other dungeon gates were closed, so we couldn’t afford to relax. The final moment might come a little earlier, so it was best we finished preparations as soon as possible. Thus, I planned on leveling up with the greatest speed we could manage. And, of course, I was merely going to speed things up. I had no intention of being hasty. When I thought about the number of times I missed out on item information by skipping game dialogue… As they say, haste makes waste.

But, not knowing my thoughts, the kids grumbled. One of them asked, “Why won’t you be using the skill in this dungeon? Isn’t it good to level up quickly, clear the dungeon fast, and end things?”