After-School Dungeon Diver: Level Grinding in Another World Volume 3 E-Book

Gamei Hitsuji

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: After-School Dungeon Diver: Level Grinding in Another World
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 273

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

As Kudo wanders around town in the world of Do-Melta, thinking about what to do for the day, he gets kidnapped (again) by his mentor Beitreise. He gets taken to an undiscovered route and is told that hot springs lie ahead. Will he take the next step into adulthood?

The third volume of this laid-back, otherworldly adventure story—brought to you by Hitsuji Gamei and Karei—is here!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Prologue: An Encounter, or More like a Meeting in the Name of “Encounter”

Floor Twenty-Two: I Am Kidnapped by Sensei Today, Again

Floor Twenty-Three: Each Species Has Different Tastes in Food

Floor Twenty-Four: To the Dungeon with Lion-Maru

Extra Floor: Receptionist Ashley Poney’s Workday

Floor Twenty-Five: Sweetener Is a Groundbreaking Innovation

Floor Twenty-Six: Unlucky People

Floor Twenty-Seven: The Circumstances of Dungeon Exploration

Epilogue: Here Comes Another Outing

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Color Illustrations

Prologue: An Encounter, or More like a Meeting in the Name of “Encounter”

I had a magic mentor.

It’d all started back then, a few days after I’d learned how to teleport to Do-Melta.

I happened on Lion-Maru as I walked around town. As I was making small talk with him, thanking him for the other day, Instructor Seeker caught me off guard when he suddenly emerged from what seemed to be a gambling den.

Then, I was suddenly kidnapped—yes, kidnapped. There was no “Hello there, good weather, isn’t it?” It was just “You’re a mage, aren’t you? That’s an interesting element you got!”

“Ahhh! I’m being abducted! It’s an abduction of a minor!!!” I screamed, but Sensei used those black band things she always had around her to drag me into the back alley.

I had no idea what was happening at the time and thought my adventure was about to end abruptly, but I ended up safe—well, maybe not exactly “safe.”

To cut to the chase, Sensei told me to help her help others (namely herself), and she’d teach me magic in exchange. I then became her disciple, not that I had much of a say in the matter.

She was just a strange person with those shadows—or rather, that black haze—and those wriggling bands around her all the time, so I didn’t actually know what she looked like. I’d been able to tell she was a young woman by her voice, but that was about all I knew about her other than the fact that she was an overpowered mage with a demonic personality.

§

“Whoa, it’s actually here.”

That was the first thing I’d said as I discovered the new route.

Before my eyes was a Misty Border that connected floors. As an aside, “Misty Border” actually wasn’t its official name. It looked like a perfectly clear and serene water surface with some sort of mist or fog around it. It had an oval contour, and my reflection in it appeared hazy. Because of that, I had the urge to say “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” but it didn’t talk back, of course. It didn’t look like a warp zone at all, so I hadn’t been able to tell that you were supposed to teleport using it at first. These were always connected to a next floor, but I couldn’t tell whether one would lead to a known route or a completely unknown one until I stepped through it. Though, it was more than unexpected to find a secret route here in the Great Forest Ruins.

“See?” said the very person who’d brought me here, a smug smile on her face. She was my aforementioned magic mentor, Beitreise Zuiventria herself.

After teleporting into Do-Melta, I’d been wandering around Freida and thinking about what to do for the day when Sensei had suddenly told me she wanted some core stones and brought me here—or more like dragged me here by force. Sad.

I mean, I had to admit I’d been curious when she’d told me there was a floor I didn’t know about, but it went without saying that she would’ve dragged me here whether I’d agreed or not. I just had to make that clear.

She’d told me that this new floor came after the newbie area, the Great Forest Ruins. Connected floors typically had fairly close expected level requirements, so the difficulty shouldn’t spike up a lot. That’d been why I’d assumed the place to be relatively safe and allowed myself to be brought here without resistance. But the difficulty of the path leading here was concerning. If the severity of the path here was meant to keep low-level Divers from entering a high-difficulty area, there was a chance that things were going to get dicey.

“Man, I didn’t think it actually existed,” I said.

“Of course it does. I said so, didn’t I?” said Sensei.

“But the guild has no record of this route. It’s only natural to be skeptical, don’t you think? Besides, you could’ve been lying just so you could drag me out here.”

“Oh? When have I ever lied to take you somewhere?” asked Sensei.

“Hey! Don’t think I’ll agree with you just because you said that with a smug look on your face! You lie to me all the time! You’ve done that thirty-seven times, to be exact!”

“That’s not very manly of you to be keeping tally like that,” said Sensei. “You need to stop being so petty if you want to get any girls.”

“Of course I’ve been keeping tally! I end up nearly dying every time I go out with youuu!” I shouted at Sensei, who was laughing at me under her shadowy mass.

But my protests fell on deaf ears, of course. She was surely plotting how to bully me next. What a terrifying person she was. She truly was a demon.

“I’m impressed that you take such a leap of imagination and accuse me of being a bully and a demon when I haven’t even said anything,” said Sensei.

“Sensei! Reading my mind is unfair! It’s cheating! It’s the work of evil spirits!” I complained.

“You literally just said it out loud. You really can’t keep your thoughts from leaking out of your mouth, can you?”

“What?! But I’m sure my mouth was closed!”

“It was wide open. And I don’t know what this ‘evil spirits’ nonsense is, but I do know you meant it as an insult,” said Sensei.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

Sensei wrapped me up with her bands and started swinging me around.

After I’d been subjected to this brand-new punishment for some time, she said, “Come, it’s time to go.”

“O-Okay...”

I was kind of looking forward to seeing this new floor, so I followed Sensei as she began walking. There was a very big possibility that no one knew about this floor besides me and Sensei, so I couldn’t help but feel excited. Though, when I considered everything that it’d taken for me to get here, the positives were about even with the negatives.

Floor Twenty-Two: I Am Kidnapped by Sensei Today, Again

I walked straight into my own reflection on the border. As my vision cleared, I found what seemed to be a meadow and a natural forest. That might have sounded a lot like the Great Forest Ruins, but this place looked completely different, mainly in the colors.

“The ground is super colorful,” I said.

Indeed, this whole place was full of color as if paint of various colors had been splattered all over the ground. There would’ve been nothing wrong with that if we were talking about a field full of flowers or something, but it was more like the soil and weeds were colorful here. The soil I could understand, but the color of the weeds made them look like they’d been genetically mutated by some sort of negative energy. The colors here were more subdued compared to those of the Night Soil Swamps, so they weren’t quite as alarming, but they did make me uneasy.

The surrounding trees were kind of weird too—or more like really weird: their colors and shapes were unusual to say the least. It felt more like I’d stepped into a fancy picture book rather than a fantasy world, and the unnatural feeling of it all reminded me of a certain wonderland or a place through the looking glass.

The sky was pretty in contrast to this bizarre landscape, beautiful even. The blue expanse above was as clear as it got, and just watching it put my mind at ease. The ground? I didn’t even want to look at it.

“This is the new floor I discovered,” said Sensei.

“It’s real after all,” I said. “It’s still hard to believe that no one has found it so far though.”

“That’s because this place was just created— No, that isn’t quite right. Maybe saying that it was recently connected to the Gandakia Dungeon would be more accurate.”

“That can happen?” I asked.

“Yes, some places where monsters continuously spawn end up getting connected to the dungeon. That’s what I’ve heard anyway.”

“Ah, I think I’ve heard that God connects these areas to the dungeon because of the mass outbreaks of monsters there.”

“The gods turn them into new floors whenever certain conditions are met,” explained Sensei.

“So this place must be in pretty bad shape if it was recently linked,” I said.

“It’s come to the point where monsters stopped getting culled naturally. So I’d say it is, as you put it, ‘in pretty bad shape.’”

I felt like I’d touched upon an important part of the mechanisms that governed this world. I found these talks about things like the origins of dungeons quite interesting.

“So, what should we call this place?” I asked.

“Let’s see... Why don’t we tentatively call it the Paradise Hot Springs?”

“Wait, there are hot springs here?” I asked.

“Yes. Not around here, but there are plenty of them if we go a bit further,” said Sensei cheerily.

There was some pride in her expression, maybe because she’d discovered hot springs. Digging up a hot spring would indeed be quite impressive and was something worth bragging about. One might wonder why I wasn’t happy about this. Well, perhaps the reason I didn’t start showering her with praises was because I’d become a Diver and was sensing danger with every fiber of my being.

“H-Hot springs, huh...? They’re safe, right?” I asked hesitantly.

“Hmm? Why wouldn’t they be? What? You don’t like bathing?” said Sensei.

“N-No, I like baths and hot springs. What I meant was, well, the thing is...” I trailed off, trembling in fear.

The presence of hot springs suggested there could be volcanic gas spewing out here. This floor was in its natural state untouched by human hands, meaning it hadn’t been properly maintained like hot spring resorts in Japan. I could picture a hellish landscape where everything was boiling over. Maybe that was why all the trees and weeds here were so colorful. It made sense if they were all affected by the minerals in the area; even the soil here was messed up. This sort of thing never happened in Japan, but this world was a scary place.

“What are you so afraid of, Akira?” asked Sensei.

“W-Well, I mean, this place could be like the Night Soil Swamps, right? With toxic gas everywhere?”

“Oh, that’s what you’re worried about?”

“Don’t just wave it off like it’s nothing! This is a life-and-death matter!” I protested.

“It’s fine. The air’s hardly toxic here.”

“Are you sure you aren’t just speaking from your point of view as a high-level Diver with massive resistances to everything?” I asked.

“Well, I am speaking from my own standards, so I can’t deny that. But this is a good opportunity to find out with you here.”

“Sensei, I’m not a canary in a coal mine for detecting toxic gases. It’d be really great if you could treat me like a human being,” I complained.

“Hey, you have a pretty high level yourself. You should believe in yourself more.”

“I can’t! I’m my own worst critic!” I screamed, but Sensei was laughing in her shadowy mass as usual.

I wasn’t sure, but I was probably, maybe, possibly going to be fine. My level was pretty high as Sensei had pointed out, and it was unlikely that I’d just instantly drop dead. If I entered some dangerous place, I’d probably feel it before it was too late. I really was a canary in a coal mine. How awful.

I had to believe I’d be okay. Sensei did usually look out for me in her own way, and she’d likely help me if I was in real trouble. Otherwise, I would’ve been sent to the afterlife already. Though, I’d been going back and forth to God’s place, which kind of felt like the afterlife.

Just in case, I pulled out from my Dimension Bag the air analyzer I’d bought online. I didn’t want to die from breathing in toxic gas or suffocating after all. I had to look after myself.

“So, you wanted to hunt monsters for their core stones, right?” I asked.

“Yes, we’re hunting Zant Bears,” she replied.

“‘Zant Bears’? I don’t like the sound of that. Are you sure I’ll be okay? I can just picture some giant crazy bear popping out at me to say hello.”

“They’re nothing to worry about. Relax.”

“You’re speaking from your perspective again, aren’t you?” I asked.

“I told you: you’ll be fine. What? You can’t trust me?”

“It isn’t a matter of trust! This is important, so please answer me! Yes or no?” I insisted.

Sensei’s tone grew serious for a change. “There will be times when you suddenly find yourself in a battle with an unknown opponent. You won’t always be given the luxury of choice. Am I wrong?”

She was right. Whenever I set foot into a new floor, each battle was a potential fight for dear life.

“Is that why you purposely put me in this situation?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“You didn’t just make that up right now, did you?”

“I’m impressed you figured it out. You have a knack for reading minds, you know?”

“I don’t need to read minds to know that!” I shouted.

Sensei had turned the mind-reading bit around on me.

She continued to toy with me for some time, then pointed at something out of nowhere.

“Looks like we found our target,” she said.

“Where?” I asked as I trained my gaze toward the direction her finger was pointing.

There stood a giant monster with what seemed to be needles growing out of its back like a porcupine. I felt this extreme sense of familiarity: it was pretty much a Pokémon, a Sandslash to be specific, but it was like a bigger, burlier version of one. Its back was densely packed with long quills, and the rest of its body was completely covered with what looked like dragon scales standing on end. I could probably grate a daikon radish on it really easily.

I couldn’t help but wonder how this thing was supposed to be a bear. There wasn’t even a hint of any bearlike qualities to it. I wanted to grill whoever had named it for an hour or so.

The Zant Bear stomped around with its mouth open, its gnarly fangs on full display. It was clearly wandering around looking for food, and I had a feeling this thing would be happy to snack on me as soon as we met.

“Goodbye,” I said as I immediately spun on my heel.

No way. I’m not fighting that thing.

“Come on now, you’re turning back after coming all the way here?” asked Sensei.

“Just look at the size of that thing!” I exclaimed. “It’d be one thing if it was the size of an Orc from the Mine, but it’s even bigger than that!”

“You’ve beaten bigger and stronger things before,” she pointed out.

“That may be true, but still! Big things are scary!”

Plain and simple, they were intimidating. Being big and heavy was a huge advantage in any fight. Sure, I might have defeated giant monstrosities like the Poison Chimera Zombie, but that was a different kind of scary. Those creatures that looked like they were from an RPG didn’t feel real, but the Zant Bear looked like an actual creature, and that terrified me.

“You’re going to defeat that thing today,” said Sensei.

“Well, I’ve been thinking that maybe it’d be better if you took it down instead,” I replied.

“I could, but where’s the fun in that? It wouldn’t serve as training for you either.”

“But I’m not really looking for that kind of fun, you know? And I’m not really a ‘training’ person.”

“What about all that time you spend leveling up day in and day out? You train in the Dark Corridors all the time,” she pointed out.

“I don’t really consider that training. It’s more like a task of sorts,” I said.

“You know, you won’t become truly strong simply by raising your level.”

“Sure, but—”

“So you should go fight. In fact, I’m telling you to. Go. Right now.”

I had no rebuttal. Simply increasing one’s strength didn’t make one skilled at combat. What I was doing was akin to spending all my time killing weak little slimes that appeared around a certain castle. That wouldn’t teach me any practical know-how.

Still, I really didn’t want to fight that thing head-on.

“I know!” I said, an idea coming to me. “Sensei! I don’t have to fight it face-to-face, do I?”

“No, you don’t. That’s not a mage’s preferred method of fighting anyway.”

“Ha ha ha! Then in that case, I’ll do it! I’ll take it down!”

“You changed your tune pretty quickly when you realized you’re at an advantage.”

“Say what you will! Bravery is a positive trait in a fight!”

“That would be a lot more convincing if you didn’t say it from behind me,” said Sensei.

I took up position in the rear and prepared for battle. I probably didn’t need to point out that I’d been speaking in a lower volume and hiding in the shade of a tree so the monster wouldn’t hear me.

“You really are pathetic, you know that?” asked Sensei.

“Hey, be quiet! If I win, that’s all that matters!”

“Fine, whatever. Do your thing.”

I began casting my spell. “Secondary Magic: Ameithys Spike!”

I cast a lightning attack with my purple magic. Lightning spikes emerged from a magic circle that appeared in the air; then they flew, in sync with the movement of my hand, at the Zant Bear. My magic reached my target—but it was completely ineffective.

The monster had noticed my attack coming and defended by turning its back. I’d had no idea its spiked back could be used like that. Sparks flew from the Zant Bear’s back, and my attack hadn’t even left a single scorch mark.

“No way...” I said in disbelief.

“Just so you know, a measly Secondary Magic attack isn’t going to work against it,” said Sensei.

“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?!” I complained. “Wait, just how difficult is this place? How can monsters this powerful be on a floor right after the Forest?!”

“Hell if I know. If you ask me, that monster isn’t much different from any other,” said Sensei.

“Will you please stop using yourself as the baseline? Wait... Is that why you said it’s okay for me to attack from back here? Is it because I’ll be forced into a head-on battle either way?!”

“Damn, you noticed.”

“You fiend! How could you deceive someone as pure and as innocent as me? You’re so cruel to toy with me like that!”

“Stop talking like that; it’s creepy. Sheesh...”

It really wasn’t the time to be fooling around with Sensei like this. The Zant Bear now knew of our presence and had begun striding toward us as if it’d found its next meal.

It wasn’t as if I’d held back. The spell I’d just cast was enough to take down most monsters, and if not, the target usually ended up immobilized or maimed. I mean, it was lightning, after all. It could defeat the majority of monsters at depth levels 15 through 20, so the monsters on this floor were obviously stronger.

As far as I could tell, Zant Bears were standard monsters on this floor instead of bosses. The depth level of the Paradise Hot Springs was probably around 20 to 30. The perilous path through the Forest to get here was indeed a sort of safety net to keep low-level Divers from accidentally setting foot in here. Nothing about this place screamed “paradise.” If anything, the words “hellish” or “demonic” would’ve been more apt for the name.

“Looks like your opponent noticed you. How will you defeat it?” asked Sensei.

“I mean, I don’t have much of a choice other than magic.”

That really was my only option. My punches and kicks had gotten stronger thanks to my leveling up, but I didn’t have nearly enough skills in that department to use them in combat. Besides, when fighting a monster for the first time, facing it head-on wasn’t the best idea.

There were all sorts of monsters out there, ranging from those that were super strong physically to powerful spellcasters. I didn’t have life points like in video games, so one slipup could mean the end for me. Just think of the despair you feel when your first attack ends up being wasted because of the opposing Pokémon’s Ability. It makes you wanna scream.

It was common knowledge among Divers that you should never fight monsters in the dungeon without any information. I normally used the info in the Monster Book (Temporary Name) in the main hall as a reference when going into battles, but there were no records of this one, so I had to figure things out as I went.

I still had mana left and more powerful spells up my sleeve, so I was still fine. It was far too early to give up.

I set my sights on the Zant Bear and switched my mind from normal mode to dungeon mode.

Imagination was key in situations like these. I had to use the monster’s appearance to try to figure out and predict its attack methods. For example, those sharp claws might easily slice through logs, and it could probably launch those quills on its back at me. On the other hand, it could also do something that I couldn’t even imagine. I had to make moves assuming that the monster could do anything I could think of. It could even curl up into a ball like an armadillo and roll at me.

Just as the thought had come to me, the Zant Bear actually jumped, curled up into a ball, then quickly spun like the wheel of a car.

“Oh?” said Sensei curiously.

“Oh crap!”

As the words left my mouth, the rolling Zant Bear zoomed, with breakneck speed, past the spot where I’d been standing. It’d left behind a deep groove in a straight line like a wheel track from a heavy vehicle.

“Whaaat?! That was too close! I figured it was gonna do that!”

The monster had rolled at me as I’d guessed. It ran over trees without stopping and even changed directions and turned around.

It eventually unrolled itself, then leaped at me in its original form.

It swiped at me with its razor-sharp claws.

“Ugh!” I grunted.

I managed to block with my staff, but the impact sent me flying backward and rolling on the ground. I broke my fall, but the impact was so hard that it left my back aching.

I heard Sensei call to me, “What’s wrong? You need to fight like you mean it. Or are you giving up already?”

“Not yet!”

“Heh, I like the look you get on your face whenever you’re cornered,” she said.

“Now’s not the time for that, you sadist!”

I turned my attention to the Zant Bear again.

This really wasn’t going to be an easy fight. The monster was strong, and since I didn’t have any effective strategies against it, I had to defeat it purely with my fighting prowess. It was fast and strong, and low-grade spells were ineffective against it. This meant I should consider using the environment to my advantage. If there were rocks around, I could direct the monster to make it punch or run into them. Those were the types of methods I could use to buy myself an opening to cast spells, but there were no big rocks around here. The trees were pretty sparse too, and using them to gain any distance would be difficult, but as a mage, I needed to make space between myself and the enemy.

The Zant Bear roared. It was loud, ear-piercingly loud. I endured the pain in my eardrums and began circling the monster. It turned slowly because of its size, but it wasn’t as if I could easily take its back either.

I moved in closer and kicked it, but it blocked with its scaly arm. It was completely unharmed.

It returned the favor with a swipe of its claws, which I evaded by ducking under.

It didn’t try to kick me with its short legs, but it did try to step on me. Its leg moved forward, but I rolled to the side to avoid it.

I rose to my feet and gained some more distance.

So far, so good. Its attacks were predictable so far. “So far” was the key term here. There hadn’t been any absurd attacks that would instantly spell game over for me.

That howling was pretty annoying though. It caused me to tense up whenever it caught me off guard, stopping me in place. I wondered whether I should shut its mouth first, but such an attempt would only leave me open to attacks; simply going for the kill instead would be better. The best solution would be to take it down with a single shot to its vitals.

I decided to use Ameithys Orbit to boost my speed and get as much space between us as possible.

“Tertiary Magic: Ameithys Orbit.”

I activated the spell as soon as the idea came to mind. My Lightning Kick was powerful when boosted by the buff, but it’d leave me wide open if I didn’t defeat the enemy in one hit, so that was out of the question. I had to move while constantly keeping an escape plan in mind.

Just as I glanced back at the Zant Bear, I realized it’d turned its back on me.

“Wait a minute...”

The attack I’d imagined earlier came to mind, and I immediately took cover. I heard the intermittent sound of countless quills zipping overhead. Just how many of those things were on its back, anyway? The seemingly infinite quills didn’t match the number of them on its back. Judging by the trees getting knocked down, these quills were incredibly powerful. It was almost as if the Zant Bear were shooting at me with a machine gun.

I lifted my head and caught the Zant Bear curling up again. It was going to try and run me over.

It bounced into the air, then made a beeline for me. I fired my Tertiary Magic at it, but its back covered so much of its surface area that my spell bounced right off. I jumped aside again to dodge.

This rolling attack was quite dangerous because of its incredible speed. I also had to be aware that it was destroying the surrounding environment each time.

Come to think of it, this monster couldn’t see me while it was rolling at me. That was my chance to strike. It’d shoot quills at me if I got too far away, so I had to maintain a certain distance and wait for it to do its rolling tackle.

“Secondary Magic: Ameithys Spike!”

My target was myself—well, the space directly below me, to be precise. I was unaffected by my spell, and instead, the ground below me exploded. My footing crumbled, leaving behind a large trap hole.

I planned to drop the Zant Bear into the hole. With its massive size, it wouldn’t be able to crawl back out easily.

Once I’d climbed out of the hole, I began taking the shortest trajectory needed to avoid the incoming attack.

The Zant Bear jumped into the air once again, and just when I thought it would execute its rolling attack again, it landed without curling into a ball and immediately turned its back toward me.

“What the— A feint?!” I cried out, caught off guard by the rare mind trick by a monster.

This was bad. I was already on my way to dodge the attack, and I couldn’t turn back now. The terrain here wasn’t ideal for taking cover either.

“Gaaaaaah! Not todayyy!”

I moved like my life depended on it—it did—and I somehow managed to escape from the quills’ line of fire. If I’d been hit, my body would’ve been blown to pieces.

The Zant Bear took this opportunity to curl up and roll at me. It wasn’t heading toward the trap hole, but this was my only shot.

“Secondary Magic: Ameithys Spike!”

I shot the spell at a point along the rolling attack’s trajectory and gouged a chunk out of the ground. The monster rolled into the divot there, and the impact changed its course. It headed directly toward the trap hole I’d made earlier, then fell right into it.

Nice shot.

Now I just needed to fire magic into that spot. I needed some time to prepare my spell, but the Zant Bear was having difficulty climbing out. It could jump, and I saw its claws peeking out of the hole from time to time, but its own weight prevented it from gaining much height. It tried holding on to the rim to pull itself up, but again, it was too heavy. It’d have to dig out part of the rim to escape, but that would take time.

Checkmate.

After some time, my incantations were complete.

“Quaternary Magic: Ameithys Prison!”

A giant electric cage spread out spherically, then formed a hemispherical cover over the hole the monster had fallen into. There was an intense purple light, and the sounds of an electrical burst and the Zant Bear’s screams could be heard. Lights flickered in my eyes for some time, then the electric cage vanished.

I cautiously peered into the hole, but the Zant Bear had been killed by the powerful offensive spell. It remained completely motionless.

“Whew... I did it.”

I jumped down into the hole, stepped on the ground a few times as was tradition whenever I defeated an opponent with lightning, then cut the monster open for its core stone. It was pretty huge, indicating that the Zant Bear had been a strong monster after all.

Sensei peeked into the hole from above.

“Well done,” she said.

“I pulled it off somehow. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a tough fight,” I said.

“You say that, but you haven’t sustained any serious injuries.”

“One hit could’ve ended my life, so I couldn’t afford to get hurt. I’m just mentally exhausted, so is my brain physically.”

“You did seem to be thinking a lot,” she pointed out.

“I’m sure you could’ve just blasted it with one spell,” I said.

“Of course,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She was so strong that it was scary. “But that Zant Bear had some interesting attacks. I didn’t expect it to curl into a ball and attack.”

“Wait, it didn’t do that when you fought it?” I asked.

“No, I’ve never seen that before.”

“I see. Then I guess it’s a good thing you got to this time. That way, it won’t catch you off guard next time—though you probably wouldn’t even let it attack you in the first place.”

Come to think of it, she’d just defeat it in one shot as previously mentioned.

Sensei fell silent.

“Sensei?” I asked.

“You— I could be wrong, but did you figure out that it could do that rolling attack before it even curled up into a ball?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, I did think of that possibility. I thought it might shoot its quills at me and that it’d be dangerous if it did a rolling tackle attack.”

“I thought so,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing. I think I’m getting close to the heart of a certain matter. It seems I was right about bringing you along today.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It’s still only a hunch. I can’t say anything carelessly just yet.”

“Humph,” I pouted, and Sensei chuckled.

“Anyway, I have one word of advice: it may be better not to imagine things like that moving forward,” she said.

“But I think it’s important to imagine all sorts of situations in battle. That’s how I just won this one,” I protested.