The morning after the celebration, I had quite the job waking up Sarah and Alicia. Sarah had been the undefeated winner of the arm wrestling, and Erina had spent the night talking about army stories from her family (obviously hiding her own identity).
Fortunately, I managed to wake the two girls lying beside . We had breakfast together and headed to the edge of town. Joseph paid us with a sack of gold coins—the reward we had agreed upon. With that amount, we could cover our lodging and als for a while.
When I held the sack of gold, I thought about how much that mission had cost us and how much they must have spent yesterday on food and drink. No matter how you look at it, they had overdone it last night.
"Is sothing wrong?" Joseph asked when he saw staring at my reward, gloomy as if I hadn’t just received an A-Rank reward.
"Aren’t you going to miss this money?" I asked.
"Hahaha, don’t worry about that. The mine will be back up and running soon, and until then we’ll manage," the man replied, in much better spirits than when I had first t him.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to see the rebirth of this town. The rest would be up to its residents.
As we walked through the town, accompanied by Joseph and his family, the townspeople greeted us and followed along. By the ti we reached the town’s exit, a crowd had gathered to see us off.
After my conversation with Diane, I felt a bit calr about this whole situation of being acclaid by people, but now there were even more of them than at the bar yesterday. Many of them were family mbers of the miners who hadn’t abandoned the town and wanted to et . I could even spot the old lady who had given directions to the tavern.
"Thank you very much, Rick. We will never forget the good you’ve done for us," Joseph told us.
"I pray that the gods protect you on your journey," Ingrid told us.
The rest of the townspeople echoed the couple, praising and my party. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my companions’ smiles in response, and even Sarah seed a little embarrassed.
Then their son stepped up to , looking like he wanted to say sothing. We all stopped to hear what he had to say.
"I want to be an adventurer like you, and also..." The little boy puffed out his chest to say the last part, "I want to have wives as hot as yours!!"
Carl’s mother was covering her face, embarrassed as if she had failed as a parent, while his father stood with his arms crossed, wearing a smile full of pride for his son.
I had no idea what I should say, but I ended up telling the boy, "At least wait until you’re old enough..."
We said our goodbyes, waving to the people of Ironburgh.
"Co visit us!" Carl shouted to us.
"You’ll always have a place to stay in this town!" Joseph called out to us.
"We’ll still beat you, Sarah!" a group of miners shouted to Sarah.
It was a warm farewell that didn’t end until we were far enough away that the people of the town could no longer be distinguished on the horizon.
...
Due to my exhaustion after the fight against Zalrorg, and all the excitent in Ironburgh during the celebration, I didn’t have ti to check my reward for clearing the dungeon.
[ Congratulations on clearing the dungeon! As a reward, you have received two additional Valkyrie slots. Have fun. ]
[
Na: Richard Forster
Class: Valkyrie Tar
Level: 25
Valkyries: 3/5
Health: 290 points
Mana: 140 points
Strength: 35 points
Defense: 20 points
Magic: 35 points
Agility: 30 points
Status Points: 0 points
]
I was excited. Finally, all the girls accompanying would be able to beco Valkyries and grow stronger and stronger with special powers. I asked us to stop sowhere along the road, and we went to a small open area surrounded by.
"Ready?" I asked the two girls.
"Born ready!" Erina said, puffing out her chest.
Diane nodded to without a word. Without further delay, I confird on my HUD that I would transform them into my underlings.
From my HUD, a current of wind was released toward the two girls. The current of wind was warm and gentle. The wind swirled around them, as if their bodies were at the center of small tornadoes.
Those tornadoes drew closer to their bodies until they wrapped around them like a veil covering them, and soon after, completely fused with them. When the atmosphere returned to normal, I received the following ssage.
[ Congratulations! Diane and Erina are now your Valkyries! Diane has beco a Shadow Assassin, and Erina has beco a Marksman. ]
[
Na: Richard Forster
Class: Valkyrie Tar
Level: 25
Valkyries: 5/5
Health: 290 points
Mana: 140 points
Strength: 35 points
Defense: 20 points
Magic: 35 points
Agility: 30 points
Status Points: 0 points
]
[
Na: Diane Stollen
Level: 1
Class: Shadow Assassin
Title: Valkyrie
Master: Richard Forster
Health: 60 points
Mana: 50 points
Strength: 5 points
Defense: 1 point
Magic: 2 points
Agility: 3 points
Status Points: 0 points
]
[
Na: Erina Ashburn
Level: 1
Class: Marksman
Title: Valkyrie
Master: Richard Forster
Health: 50 points
Mana: 50 points
Strength: 5 points
Defense: 1 point
Magic: 3 points
Agility: 2 points
Status Points: 0 points
]
[ Shadow Assassin: A class focused on stealth attacks, combining the agility and strength of an Assassin with magic. ]
[ Shadow Blade: Allows the user to create weapons (swords and knives) made of dark energy.
Cost: 5 MP ]
[ Fatal Slash: The user’s next physical attack deals additional damage. If the attack is a surprise, the damage is increased.
Cost: 10 MP ]
[ Marksman: A class focused on long-range attacks. Like a Gunner, it can fire both physical and magical attacks, and it can also create its own weapons to adapt to combat. ]
[ Weapon Furnace: The user can now create long-range weapons (sniper, shotgun, machine gun). The weapon can be charged with other skills.
Cost: 10 MP ]
[ tal Charge: This skill charges your weapon (created by you or not) with physical bullets.
Cost: 5 MP ]
"Oh, this skill is pretty useful to ," Diane said. "If I can create blades as I wish, this could open up various assassination possibilities."
Diane seed to like her new power, but I couldn’t say the sa about Erina.
"That actually sounds pretty cool. I could have so versatility with other weapons, even though I prefer using my sniper," Erina said, pondering her new power.
But I wasn’t finished yet. There was still one more reward I had to check.
After defeating Zalrorg, I received a crystal capable of creating a Demon. My party was already getting pretty big, consisting of six, including myself, but extra help is never too much. And I won’t hold back against my enemies. I’ll even use monsters if necessary.
’Though if I get to choose, I’d like this Demon to take the form of a hot babe. I wouldn’t want it to have so ssed-up form like Derug did.’
[ Devil Crystal: A consumable item capable of summoning a Demon. Thanks to your Valkyrie Tar class, the demon created from this crystal will beco your servant. It also grants you an additional Valkyrie slot, though the creature will not have a class. ]
I clicked on the HUD right over the Devil Crystal, as the system asked to. When I did, a crystal as dark as the night materialized in my hand.
"Waaah!" Erina cried out in surprise.
"It’s kind of weird, this crystal." Alicia looked at the piece with suspicion.
’It’s for summoning a Demon, so I think it’s normal if it looks weird to a Saintess,’ I thought inwardly. ’Brandish, how do I do this?’
’Close your eyes and imagine what form you want your Demon to have,’ the woman instructed . ’A Demon doesn’t have a form before it is summoned, so it will be as if the monster is born when it takes shape in our world.’
I did exactly as Brandish told . With my eyes closed, I began imagining how the Demon should appear. Like a sculptor shaping his masterpiece, I diligently molded her form according to my desires.
I felt the air around fill with energy. With every curve, every detail that passed through my mind, I could feel more electricity gathering in the air. And then the energy collapsed, and the crystal exploded.
"Rick!" my Valkyries shouted in alarm when they saw the smoke rising around .
I coughed a lot and couldn’t see anything around , but fortunately I hadn’t suffered any damage. I tried to move out of the center of the explosion, but I ended up tripping over sothing.
"Ahn~" I heard a moan accompany my stumble.
I didn’t understand what was happening, but I still tried to get up. I tried to push myself up with my hand on the ground, but the texture felt strange, my fingers sinking wherever they touched.
"Ahn~" I heard the sa moan as before, followed by a female voice, more mature than that of my servants. "Master, if you’re going to use my body like that, at least be a bit more gentle."
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