Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes
Margrid was sitting down with Ninetails on her lap.
It looked like they were both asleep.
Let"s leave them alone…
Wait, I thought it was just Reina, but now Margrid too?
Ninetails…
Would you swap with me?
I walked around to distract myself by listening into other people"s conversations.
Of course, there was a lot of talk about the qualifiers.
There were also some people fawning over the mermaids and Hyodor.
Apparently, I was the only summoner team that managed to make it to the main tournament.
「You"re an old player after all. Well, it makes sense.」
Margrid wasn"t too surprised when I told her.
She was watching videos of the qualifier matches with a few other players.
I joined her.
They were watching a fifth-round match.
The fisherman team"s fight.
As usual, it was a very intimidating experience.
「Too bad they attract so much attention.」
「Huh?」
「I"m talking about the fisherman team… Yosaku"s team too. The odds of getting countered are much higher.」
「That"s true.」
「That counts for you too, by the way.」
Hmm…
Well there wasn"t much I could do about others doing research on me.
There should still be some room for new strategies, though.
I watched more matches while chatting with some of the other players.
The conversations continued until it was time to eat.
After eating together, we all went back to watching more videos.
「It"s time for some summoner matches!」
At Konohana"s command, another video played.
The first was Adele"s and Irina"s third-round match.
Wait a minute, it was my video…
As expected.
Cheers rose here and there.
My matches were also played.
But I didn"t expect them to showcase a video of every fight…
Although the four matches I did play in were less than 20 minutes total, so it didn"t feel like I was taking up too much time.
Afterwards, we watched some other matches.
There were a few defeats too.
There were lessons to be learned from those matches too.
Each video was prime kindling for conversation.
Everyone else was a summoner too, after all.
What kind of Summon Monster composition would be best?
That topic came up a lot.
Was I really the best person to be asking that question to though?
I honestly had no idea…
It was slowly starting to get more crowded.
More people were still coming.
The【Instant Portal】still had room, it wasn"t an issue.
「Umm… Could I ask you something?」
With a slight bow, an elf appeared in front of me.
A short and slender elf.
Yep.
It was Hyodor.
I was a little scared of the gang of older sisters behind him, but I"ll welcome you with open arms!
I talked to Hyodor while I bathed in the hostile glares of the girls around us.
They had no mercy…
Well, I wasn"t playing *that* kind of game, so I didn"t really mind.
Hyodor was thinking of getting some more magic skills, and wanted to get some advice before he made his decision.
As soon as Hyodor got up, he was instantly taken away.
Wow.
What cooperation…
They really didn"t waste a moment.
Hyodor was swallowed by a sea of hands.
It was just a hug, no matter how much it looked like they were choking him.
「Thank youuuuuuuuu!」
It was wonderful how he still managed to thank me even while he was being kidnapped…
Oh well.
Their hands did look like flower petals, but thinking about it further, it almost looked like a carnivorous plant.
Scary…
I prayed for Hyodor"s safety.
I knew the qualifiers were already over, but I was still surprised to see non-summoners at the meet-up.
They must"ve heard about the meet-up from a summoner.
What they all had in common was that their eyes were stuck to the Summon Monsters surrounding them.
Oh dear…
Volff was being pet way too much.
Loewe was already aware of the danger, and decided to just sleep at Margrid"s feet.
Wait, he was just pretending.
Ninetails was still on Margrid"s lap.
Heather flew about.
Jean remained on my shoulder.
I could let them do as they please.
But it looked like there were some players were there not just for the Summon Monsters.
「Good evening. Is Margrid here?」
The player that asked me that was obviously a sorcerer.
She had a light-looking robe.
Her staff has a nice spiral pattern at the tip, which was thicker than the rest of the staff.
A relatively big gem was inserted into the staff.
Looked like a good piece of equipment.
「Oh. You all the way here to see me?」
「Yep.」
「How is your staff doing?」
「I really like it. I"m really grateful I managed to get it in time for the tournament.」
「You fought well. I saw you fight in the fifth round.」
「We lost, though.」
Hmm…
One of Margrid"s customers.
「Keith, yes? Nice to meet you. My name is Guren.」
「Sorry for staying seated. My name"s Keith.」
「That fifth round was a complete defeat. It was a wonderful fight.」
「Huh?」
「Sorry. Not you, but my team.」
「Huh?」
「Yeah, I got hit by your Summon Monster and fainted right away?」
「Is that so?」
Woah.
It was someone from the other team earlier!
There were five other people behind Guren.
Oh!
Good point…
Looking at them together, I could tell they were the team I fought earlier.
No, it was just the Fighter with the helmet that gave it away.
Apparently, Margrid was somewhat of a celebrity among sorcerers.
Thinking about it further, Guren was the who wrote the report I read before…
I felt like I"d seen her name on the forums a lot too.
According to Margrid, the stone in Guren"s staff was her best work.
Guren had no complaints.
Her party members were all in a good mood.
Well, it was a nice evening.
「Well then, could I ask you something, Keith?」
「What is it?」
「There"s something I want to investigate! Or maybe, a.n.a.lyse? Can I ask you a few questions?」
Her momentum was pretty amazing.
She was very enthusiastic, to say the least.
Loewe woke up and glared at Guren.
Ninetails got up too.
Although Ninetails went straight back to sleep after Margrid tickled her neck.
It turned out to just be a light chat about various topics.
Well, I kind of expected that.
The battle log of our fight was public.
My『Martial Arts Fighter』t.i.tle.
The skill【Speedcasting】.
Well, it was just a matter of time.
「I"m looking into the effects of level-ups on【Speedcasting】.」
「Oh.」
「If you don"t mind, could I know what your【Speedcasting】level was at the start of the tournament?」
Hmm…
Guren was ready to go to any lengths to get information.
She had the eyes of a researcher.
She wanted to know.
That was all.
She didn"t have any ulterior motives.
I glanced at Margrid, but she just laughed at me.
Hey!
Well, that was alright too.
Keep the questions coming!
My chat with Guren continued late into the evening.
But she really had a lot of information on her.
It was like she knew everything.
There were some things even I didn"t know about my own skills.
For example, 【Instant Portal】.
「This situation is clearly strange…」
「Huh?」
「It doesn"t line up with the information we have right now…」
Yep.
She showed me the forum post that I wrote when I first got the skill.
HP and MP recovery is lower than in a normal Area Portal.
Can only be used by the caster"s party.
Entering and exiting the portal multiple times is not possible.
Cannot be used as a target for【Return Home】.
Cannot be used while targeted by an active monster.
Has a cooldown time of five hours.
Hmm…
It was definitely strange.
Looking at the spell list again, the description was different.
HP and MP recovery is lower than in a normal Area Portal.
Can only be used by the caster"s party and the parties of the players invited by the caster.
Entering and exiting the portal multiple times is not possible.
Cannot be used as a target for【Return Home】.
Cannot be used while targeted by an active monster.
Has a cooldown time of three hours.
Invite?
That one was completely different.
The cooldown time was a lot shorter too.
And the size of the portal was definitely bigger than when I first used it.
【Spell Effect Amplification】came to mind.
Or maybe it was just another effect of the【s.p.a.cetime Magic】level-up.
「Maybe it"s an effect of【Spell Effect Amplification】or【Spell Range Expansion】?」
「Maybe…」
「Wait, how did you get those skills!?」
Ah, I fell for the bait.
「I guess if【Instant Portal】changed, you should have similar changes to all your other spells too.」
「There"s a possibility…」
I checked【Return Home】, and sure enough, the description was different.
It was possible to bring up to three parties with me in a Union.
【Change Monster】was different too.
The spell now said it would let me switch up to two monsters at once.
The cooldown time was down to 40 minutes too.
I didn"t notice at all.
I didn"t get any info screens to notify me of the change, after all.
Guren did mention how she didn"t like that there were so many hidden changes.
I totally felt the same way.
We kept talking.
When we were done, she compiled all the information into a report.
She said there was still a lot of ground to cover, but it would have to do for one day.
Hmm.
I told her I would read it as soon as I could.
The party continued.
The next day was already going to be the main tournament…
I got a bit lonely when I thought about how the summoner meetups would have to end.