Leon's courtyard.
The key turned, the gate swung open, and the group filed in one after another.
"Ahhh, finally home!" Laurier threw her arms into a massive stretch, the tips of her pointed ears twitching contentedly, her whole face radiating the relief of being back on home turf. "Nothing beats your own place."
Leon melted into his wicker chair like a puddle, letting out a long, satisfied breath. He squinted at the slender crescent moon hanging in the sky and sighed. "You can have the fanciest mansion in the world, but it'll never beat your own hole in the wall. Lady Demeter's Wheat Manor is gorgeous, sure, but it's not this."
Jeanne and Rose emerged from inside carrying a tea tray and a spread of fruit and snacks, setting everything out on the stone table.
Before long, with the scent of tea curling through the air, Jeanne called out, "Laurier, Aura. Come try some of this."
"Oh? Are these from Lady Demeter?" Laurier's eyes lit up at the sight of the glistening assortment of premium fruit on the platter. "They're the same ones from the manor!"
She grabbed a fat bunch of translucent grapes without a shred of ceremony and stuffed them into her mouth.
"Mmm, so good! Aura, try them!"
"Oh... alright."
The white-haired elf eyed the fruit, waged a one-second internal war with herself, lost decisively, and began nibbling in small, delicate bites, her eyes crinkling with pleasure.
Jeanne and Rose watched the two girls eat with obvious satisfaction and exchanged a smile, the kind that needed no words.
Then Jeanne seemed to remember something and turned toward Leon in his chair.
"Right, Leon. Rose and I are planning to head into the Dungeon tomorrow for a routine run, get used to our post-level-up condition. What about you?"
"Me?" Leon paused, then shook his head. "I'll pass. I need to get these new spells down first. And I've got to swing by Tsubaki's place to offload our loot."
Jeanne and Rose both nodded, unsurprised. They'd clearly expected this. In their position, they'd have done the same: master new abilities before setting foot in the Dungeon again.
"So tomorrow it'll be the two of us taking Laurier and Aura," Jeanne confirmed.
Leon nodded. "Sounds good. Be careful, though. The upper floors shouldn't pose any real threat to you now, but you never know what the Dungeon might cook up."
"I know."
If it had been anyone else, Leon might have worried. But with Jeanne and Rose as the front line, he could relax. Both were vanguard fighters with enormous margin for error in close combat, and Jeanne had Revelation on top of that, a skill that bordered on precognition. Add Rose's Pure White Kite Shield for rear-guard defense, and as long as they pulled back decisively when things went sideways, almost nothing could catch them.
"Alright, it's getting late. Long day. Let's get some sleep."
The mood had been perfectly normal until those words left his mouth. The instant "long day" landed, with all its unintended implications given the day's earlier events, the courtyard's calm atmosphere flash-froze.
Jeanne and Rose's faces turned red at visible speed, as if someone had flipped a switch.
Their eyes met for a split second, shy and startled, then bounced apart like magnets repelling, each finding somewhere else to look.
"I... I'm heading in." Jeanne bit her lower lip, her voice barely above a whisper, and practically fled through the door.
"My, my," Rose said, face flushed, doing her best impression of composure as she smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear, though the embarrassment in her eyes was impossible to hide. "That's really quite..."
She rose with her usual grace, though her steps were a touch faster than normal. When she passed Leon's chair, she slowed for just a moment, turned her head, and gave him a smile that was equal parts knowing and mischievous.
Leon: "..."
Was that a challenge?
Rose, you just wait.
You're done. I'm calling it now.
The next morning, the sky had barely begun to lighten when the courtyard filled with the sharp whistle of training blades cutting air and the sound of exertion.
Leon, still half-asleep, mumbled something incoherent and burrowed deeper into his pillow. He was out again in seconds.
In the yard, Laurier set down her ironwood practice sword, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and gulped for air.
Aura, who'd started with a far weaker combat foundation, was in worse shape. Her legs trembled and her face was flushed bright red.
"Aura, stamina is your weak point," Jeanne said, leaning against the wall as she offered guidance to the two girls wrapping up their morning drill. "It won't improve overnight, but you can't give up on it. It matters too much."
"Mm, I know." Aura took several deep breaths, fought her breathing under control, and walked over to the stone table to sit down.
On the other side of the courtyard, Rose had just finished tending to Leon's plants. She walked to the window below his room and raised her voice slightly.
"Leon, time to get up!"
Inside, Rose's wake-up call punched clean through the thin window. Leon, who'd already half-woken once during the morning training, knew there was no going back to sleep. He rubbed his bleary eyes, glanced at the Magic Stone clock, then stared hollow-eyed at the ceiling for a long moment before sighing.
"Fine. Up it is."
He kicked off the covers, planted bare feet on the cool floor, yanked the curtains open with a swish, and leaned out the window.
The women were already bright-eyed and fully alert, morning training long finished. He stretched until his spine popped, unleashed a jaw-cracking yawn, and explained through half-closed eyes while rubbing them, "Stayed up way too late reading last night... feels like I just closed my eyes..."
Rose and Jeanne exchanged a glance, eyebrows rising with interest.
"Was it a Grimoire? You've got new magic to learn?"
New magic?
The moment that topic came up, every trace of drowsiness evaporated. He'd been so excited last night he'd read straight into the small hours. If he hadn't been physically unable to keep his eyes open, and if he hadn't had errands today, he would have pulled an all-nighter without a second thought.
"You bet." His face split into an eager grin. "Both treasure chests gave me ice magic!"
His prayers had paid off.
Besides Frost Armor, the second Grimoire was the prize he'd cracked open in his room last night.
"Ice magic?" Jeanne sounded surprised. "I would've guessed you'd get fire spells, something that synergized with your current build."
Leon arched an eyebrow, his mouth curving into a sly grin. "Fire's great in the Dungeon, sure. But aboveground? Way too flashy. Ice, on the other hand, is a completely different story. On the surface, especially in a fight against people, the advantages are huge."
He hadn't forgotten for a second what Orario was like right now.
This was the Dark Age at its most chaotic. Walking out the door without something up your sleeve meant constant paranoia, the ever-present fear of stumbling into the aftermath of some high-level throwdown and dying for no reason at all.
Now that he'd hit Level 2 and had two ice spells in his arsenal, one for control and one for defense, the dread that used to gnaw at him every time he left the house had finally faded.
"What kind of spells?" Rose pressed.
Even Laurier and Aura, still catching her breath, turned their full attention toward him.
Leon didn't bother with suspense. "One is a sustained defensive spell: Frost Armor."
"And the other..." His smile widened with quiet confidence. "Frost Nova."
"Wait, WHAT?!"
Name: Magic Guide: Frost Nova
Origin: World of Warcraft
Type: Grimoire
Effect: Frost Nova, commonly known as Nova. Centered on the caster, deals ice damage to surrounding enemies and freezes them. Freeze: reduces target's attack speed and movement speed. Frozen: immobilizes target; ice-type magic deals increased damage to frozen targets.
Description: Every melee fighter wants to rush a mage. So let me ask you this: if I cast Nova, what exactly are you going to do about it?
Frost Nova. The classic ice ring.
Paired with Frost Armor, the moment a melee fighter failed to take Leon down in that initial rush, well... sorry about your luck.
The stage belonged to the mage after that.
Of course, his ice magic toolkit was still incomplete, and he hadn't mastered the full repertoire yet, so he'd need to stay cautious in any real fight. But compared to before, when Jeanne could close the gap and he'd just stand there helpless while she dismantled him, those days were over.
"Hold on, hold on!" Laurier's eyes went wide. "The Frost Nova you're talking about, is that the same one you told us about before?"
Aura supplied the more familiar name without missing a beat. "Nova?"
Leon braced one hand on the balcony railing and vaulted over, landing lightly in the courtyard below.
"Got to love Level 2 Basic Abilities. Hopping off the second floor is nothing." He grinned, then turned to Aura with a nod. "Yeah. Nova. One of the best anti-personnel spells a mage can have."
"If that's the case," Jeanne said, homing in on the tactical implications, "your overall combat power is about to jump again. Does that mean we could start testing the waters in the Great Tree Labyrinth past Floor 18?"
"The Great Tree Labyrinth?" Leon gave her a flat look. "Not happening."
"Why not?"
"You hit Level 2 yesterday. The Great Tree needs B-range Basic Abilities, 700 or higher, and at least one Level 3 in the party before it's remotely safe. It's not Floor 10 through 12 with more monsters. It's mid-tier. The environment's more complex, surprises stack up fast, and you don't know what's around the next corner."
He held her gaze. "We're not going there yet."
And even that was only relatively safe. If something truly catastrophic happened at that depth, there was nowhere to run.
"Alright," Jeanne said with a small sigh and a trace of disappointment. "Then we'll focus our exploration on the mid-tier zone, Floors 13 through 18, for now."
Leon understood how she felt. Starting from Floor 18, the Dungeon's environment changed dramatically. Curiosity about that kind of unknown was only natural. He'd be lying if he said the deeper mysteries didn't pull at him too.
Though for slightly different reasons.
The gap in resource value between the Cave Labyrinth on Floors 13 through 18 and the Great Tree Labyrinth on Floors 19 through 24 was staggering. The Great Tree Labyrinth was a major source of restorative materials. Even the most basic Dungeon materials and Drop Items from those floors were worth dramatically more than anything the Cave Labyrinth could offer.
But for safety's sake, he'd made his decision: master the rhythm of Level 2 combat in the floors before 18 first. Once their strength and preparation were solid, then they'd take on the Great Tree Labyrinth.
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