Vol. 3 - Chapter 149 - Welcome Party
I was asked by the homeroom teacher to take care of the transfer students.
I invited the three of them to go to the cafeteria. This cafeteria was for second year students only, located near the Academy building for second year students. Everywhere, students were talking around the Elves and Dwarves.
We came to the cafeteria for a social gathering, and I guess they all did the same thing as well.
Once again, we introduced ourselves and started talking about the future.
In the midst of our talk, we talked about how we were currently going to the dungeon every day. We were told by the homeroom teacher to take care of them, so I asked them if there was anything they wanted to do.
Then Sophie gave an immediate answer that she would go to the dungeon with me. I was slightly taken aback by her biting words. The Elf named Formar seemed to value her wishes and said nothing.
Merle told me that she wanted to go to the dungeon too, but there were some circumstances. She said it would be a long story, but I just said if you want to come, come.
They\'ve also decided to join the "Abandoned Gamers" party.
I also asked them about where they were going to live.
The five of us have set up a base and are living together with our families and servants. When I said that we had some empty rooms, Sophie told me they would live with us.
So, we decided that they would all move in together on our days off.
At the end of the afternoon classes, I was summoned by the Principal through my homeroom teacher.
The conversation was about the three people we were going to invite to our base.
He asked me to take very good care of Sophie. In the conversation, he said that her position is far superior to his. He also said that the Elven Kingdom, Rosenhiem, believes in the Spirit King, but their real ruler is the Queen.
Formar said that Sophie is a High Elf with the right to the throne. The Principal, also a high Elf, apparently does not have the right to the throne.
He self-deprecatingly said that he was born into Royalty, but without the right of succession, he would be a Principal in a small country.
After all, the land of the Elves has a Queen system.
Then we talked about Merle.
Merle had a Talent I\'d never heard of called "Magic Rock General," a ridiculously rare Talent that only one in 10 million people possessed. He told me to take her to the dungeon to raise her.
Four days have passed since then, and today is a day off from the Academy.
Everyone decided to work together to carry the belongings of the three people who were living in the Academy\'s dormitory and move them into the base.
They had just arrived at the Academy and their luggage was small because some of the furniture in the dormitory came with the room. Thanks to this, we were able to fit all of their luggage in one carriage.
That evening, we had a welcome party for the five new people we had invited to our base.
The reason why there were five was because Sophie had two Elf servants.
It\'s a good thing we have a base that can house 20 people.
I, Kurena, Cecile, Dogora, and Kiel
Kiel\'s sister Nina and the servants of the Carnell Family, seven in -all.
1 Maid from Granvelle Family
Sophie, Formar, and the servants, four in all.
Merle
In April, five new people started living in the base, which can house 20 people, bringing the total to 18.
The maid of the Granvelle Family was sent by Viscount Granvelle.
It seems to be a Noble balance thing that it\'s not good to have all the servants from only one Family. So, Viscont Granvelle sent a maid. She has been working as Cecile\'s caretaker since last October, and the Viscount has been paying her salary.
Thinking that it would take quite a while without the Magic Train, I arrive at the garden of the base by carriage. Kurena and Cecile, who had arrived earlier on the Magic Train, came out of the base.
"Welcome home,~Death."
"Oh, I\'m home."
Maria also came out to the garden. Maybe this house is considered a haunted house by the neighbors.
""...""
The Elves and Merle stared at the floating Marry. I told them to carry their belongings into the base, saying that I would explain later.
We unloaded our luggage into our respective rooms for the time being.
Kiel\'s servants were wondering what\'s going on when the Elves and Merle arrived, but they quickly accepted it, as if they\'ve acquired a lot of adaptability because of me. Compared to Maria, the Elves and Merle are probably not that much of a surprise.
Then we all cooked together for a sumptuous welcome party.
"Hmm? Sit down, Sophie\'s servants."
Come to think of it, Sopie\'s servants never introduced themselves.
""No, thank you.""
(Their voices are in sync. Come to think of it, they look like twins, too. Or is it that all people of different races look the same? Do all Dwarves look like Merle?)
"No, no, this is an Academy tradition, there are no Nobles, Royalty or Queens. This is a welcome party. Let\'s all have fun together."
Thanks to the increase in the number of servants, the food is more sumptuous.
Unlike last year\'s welcome party for Kiel, this one was quite extravagant.
The table was large enough to seat twenty people, and the food that everyone had worked so hard to prepare was laid out on it, making Kurena\'s eyes light up.
I decided to just blame it on the Academy and tried to get Sophie\'s servants to take a seat.
"That\'s what Master Allen said. Please take your seats."
""Yes.""
(Master Allen?) {TLN: She says Allen-sama.}
For some reason, Sophie refers to me as "Master Allen". She doesn\'t seem to care about the Academy\'s rule that honorifics are not required.
"We have five new friends living in the base. Let\'s all get along."
""Yes.""
I started the welcome party with a brief greeting. Like a domesticated dog that has been given the "Go.", Kurena quickly reached for the food.
At this table where 18 people are seated, about four people were praying instead of reaching for their food.
The Elves were holding their hands on the table, mumbling about something. I was watching the scene.
"Are you praying to the Spirit King?"
As they finished praying, I asked Sophie.
"Yes, we are what we are because of the Spirit King."
Rosen, the King of Spirits, has given the power of Spirit Magic to the Elves through a contract with the Queen of Elves. If it weren\'t for that, perhaps the Demon King\'s army would have destroyed them and there would have been no Rosenheim, the land of the Elves.
I look at Merle, thinking that different countries and races have different cultures. Merle was not praying and was working on her meal instead.
"I guess there\'s no such thing as prayer in the land of Dwarves."
"Yes, Master Digragni says such things are fine."
"Master Digragni?"
I\'ve never heard this name before. I wonder if he is a famous person in the Baucis Empire.
"Oh, Master Digragni is the Dungeon Master that we Dwarves worship. He\'s going to be a Demi-God soon."
"Dungeon Master? Demi-God?"
Merle told us about Digragni. She said that he is the Dungeon Master who controls all the dungeons, and he created the device that is the source of all magical tools. He says that by imitating and improving on this, the Dwarves have created a wide variety of magical tools, such as useful Magic Ships, Magic Trains, and Magical Lamps.
That\'s why many Dwarves believe in Digragni.
(Ah, so those cube-shaped objects in the dungeon are somehow systematic. They are probably magic tools too.)
Thanks to the arrival of the Elves and Dwarves, I think my world is expanding.
"What\'s the \'Demi-God\' you mentioned earlier, Merle?"
Cecile also joined in the conversation directly calling Merle without any honorifics.
Only Sophie calls me "Master Allen", everyone else supports abandoning honorifics.
"It\'s, uh, um, ..."
Merle was at a loss for words. Apparently, she doesn\'t understand.
"For it is the prayers of the people that bring forth God."
Sophie taught us about the relationship between prayers and God. At first, the Spirit King was just a Spirit. But as the Elves relied on him and continued to pray, that Spirit became a Spirit King and then a Demi-God.
It is said that if the Elves continue to pray, the Demi-God Rosen will one day become a God. She also said that it is the wish of the Elves to make the Spirit King Rosen a God.
She also said that the Digragni, who is the Master of all Dungeons, may soon be able to become a Demi-God because of the continued prayers of the Dwarves.
"Things are really different in each country."
Kiel, too, seemed to feel as if his world had expanded in some way after hearing Sophie\'s story.
"So, what are you going to do about that dungeon? I haven\'t heard you talk about it yet; are we going to start over with a B-class dungeon?"
Dogora, holding a lump of meat in one hand, talked about the future. Sophie, Formar, and Merle have already conquered three C-class dungeons, but none of the B-class dungeons.
We have conquered three A-class dungeons and have an Adventurer Rank of A.
And we\'re in the middle of conquering our fourth A-class dungeon. If we can conquer this fourth A-class dungeon by July, and also conquer the last A-class dungeon in the Kingdom, we can enter the S-class dungeon.
We\'ve already talked about the three of them joining "Abandoned Gamers", but we haven\'t talked about what to do after that, whether to start over from the B-class dungeons for the three of them or not.
Everyone\'s attention was drawn to me. They all shared their opinions, but waited for my opinions since I am kind of the leader.
"No, we\'ll finish conquering these A-class dungeons by July. And at the same time, we\'re going to proceed with the dungeon conquering for Sophie and the others."
"What? What do you mean?"
"We\'re going to split the party."
""Split the party?""
Allen talked about the strategy for the future dungeon raid.