Vol. 7 - Chapter 376 - Changes in line-up and introduction of new members!

Tuesday, the day after the discussion with Hannah.

Yesterday, I requested Ester to carry Sierra, Lulu, Shizu and Pamela in the <Thunder Javelin> to clear around the requirement of three Int-low dungeon marks. Now, they were all strong enough to challenge Int-mid.

Including them, since few of us had already clear requirements, we could finally start our journey of Int-mid from today in earnest. I had already passed the news to other members, and right now we were having our usual morning meeting around that topic.

"We are going to challenge the Intermediate-mid dungeon with ten members today. I will now announce who these members are."

As of now, there were just four members --- Celestine, Rina, Misato and Mert --- who have yet to clear the requirement, but aside from them, the other 11 members were all but ready to go. And since I had already discussed with Hannah, this left us with precisely 10 members for my plan to carry out.

"Huh, what about Hannah?"

Lana asked in a puzzled tone once I finished announcing the name of the members. It sounds like she reflexively called out. Well, Hannah had always been with us during main exploration, taking her position on the frontline, so hearing I didn't call out Hannah's name must have confused her.

"Hannah will be focusing on her production skills to support us in our exploration."

"I see."

Lana and other founding members looked at Hannah in astonishment, though she just nodded in response. They didn' ask anything further.

I continued my speech and explained about our objective this time.

"This time our objective is to clear three Intermediate-mid dungeons in this dungeon week. Basically, we have the time limit of clearing 1 dungeon in 2 days."

My announcement stirred a buzz. Well, it was mainly caused by Mert and Misato. They gave me a sceptical gaze, probably wondering 'is it even possible?'. Though other members were calm.

They probably trust me enough because they were the part of the journey we have completed to reach at this point. I have already said it to Sierra, but I was going to run my mouth only about the thing I was dead sure. I use my database as the cornerstone to run the simulation and only when I was sure would I propose my plan.

I used to chase after efficiency in the game <Dungeon Activity>. Like, what would be the level I need to clear, and how else could I shorten the time? These were the questions I focused on.

The crystallisation of all that hard work and pursuit was now stored in me. And my opinion says we would have more than enough time to clear the 3 Intermediate-mid dungeons in 6 days. Besides, even if there was some kind of error, we still have our trump card, Ester, to overcome the obstacle.

Ah, I almost forgot.

"Also, I want you guys to introduce with someone"

"Introducing someone?"

The moment Lana parroted my words, I felt cold sweat trickling down my back.

W-What is it? Was it just my imagination or the glint in the eyes of a few girls have suddenly sharpened? I hope it was just my imagination.

"Well, err. Ahem. They are the sub-guild members I had previously talked about."

Trying to hide my nervousness behind a cough, I managed to say that. Hearing that, the imaginary oppressive feeling suddenly clears like the fresh snow meeting the warm sunlight.

"Geez. Just say you want to introduce 'members' if it is about sub-guild. You almost caused us to misunderstand."

"R-Right. My apologies."

It seemed like I didn't choose my words wisely. Maybe, it did sound like I was going to introduce someone important. Be more careful with your phrasing, me.

Anyway, with the misunderstanding cleared, I signalled Celestine who left the guild room with a curt bow. A few minutes later, we heard a knock on the door, along with Celestine’s remark ‘I have brought them’.

"Come in."

"Please, this way."

"What!"

Many of the members let out a befuddled yelp hearing my announcement and shifted their gaze to Celestine and Hannah. Their confusion was apparent from their gazes.

Following my words, Celestine stood from his seat and bowed curtly.

"I apologise for the sudden news. I had been considering the time is nigh for me to focus solely on support. So instead of Dungeon, I will instead be providing my assistance in other matters from today onward."

"Are you really fine with that, Celestine?"

"Yes. It might reduce my time to dive into the dungeon, but I want to support <Eden> with best of my capabilities."

"I see. Very well. We will be counting on you from now on."

"Of course, this is my intention as well. Please continue to rely on me."

Other members looked at their conversation with curiosity.

It wasn't a convoluted story. Celestine was basically retiring from the front-line to support us in a hitch-free dungeon exploration.

Well, it was Celestine himself who wished to become a supporter. He already was lacking time to dive into the dungeon, and his growth had been a bit slow compared to others.

I kind of saw it coming. He had multitude of others works to handle, while the time was just finite. Furthermore, <Butler> was mainly a support job. It could participate in the dungeon exploration, but it didn't have any noteworthy points compared to other jobs.

<Dungeon Activity> was always clear about such setting---<Fighter> category jobs would always be the mainstream in dungeon exploration. So I received consultant from Celestine saying it's just the time for him to move to support. This was the perfect chance to make that change.

"Wait a minute! Is it the same for you, too, Hannah!?"

"W, Well......"

Lana asked Hannah, looking flustered. I decided on her behalf seeing the helping glance she was giving me.

"Ah, the path is too steep for Hannah to follow us in exploration anymore. That's why she has been assigned to support------"

"Hold on! She had been working all this time! So why is there a need to remove her from the party!!"

Before listening to the end, Lana cut my words short. Her eyes were simmering with rage.

I didn't falter away and calmly replied.

"Clam down, can you? And at least listen to the end. I am not saying she is permanently out from the party after becoming support member."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Flames shimmering in her eyes slightly died out. Phew, now I could finally clear it out. I did tell Hannah to focus on the production part, but it wasn't like she needed a specific room or place to carry it out.

"She is going to join us wearing <(Guest) Bracelet> and will stay inside the carriage most of the time. Carriage space would be where she will carry out her alchemist. So she will be with us in the dungeon too."

"......Huh?"

"W-Well.... ehehe."

Once I was done explaining, Lana looked at Hannah with a perplexed expression. Though the person herself had her cheeks dyed in red for some reason.

Despite not being able to participate in boss battles, she could still explore dungeons. We just couldn't bring her to boss fights. So, in short, Hannah would be the mobile alchemist & gathering in-charge.

The final layout for the Int-mid was 10 members in the dungeon exploration team + one support member.