Chapter 47: Side Story Main Party (2)

46: [Side Story] Main Party (2)

“Are you not going to recruit Miss Evangeline into the party?”

Aider asked once more while I hesitated to answer.

“She will prove to become a really huge power to the team.”

“...I would be lying if I said I don’t want to at all.”

To be honest, I do want to recruit her. I want to recruit her so much that it’s driving me insane!

Imagine having two SSR-rank melee units. Not to mention that they are Lucas and Evangeline.

"No matter how much this game plays tricks with difficulty, I’d be able to clear through all the stages comfortably!”

However,

- I want my daughter to get out of this cursed land, and out of this cursed task. I want her to live in peace and happiness.

I made a promise.

- And tell her… live your life freely… Live as you please…

That was the last will of the deceased Earl of the Frontier.

The last request, asking that his daughter not be entangled in the family's task.

“I must keep my promise. I’m going to let her do whatever she wants.”

“If you miss this chance, you will regret it in the future, no? Wouldn't it be better to hold her by force?”

“I don’t want to violate my duty as a human being to clear the game.”

Aider tilted his head slightly to the side.

“Wasn’t the reason why you were able to clear the Hell-Ironman because you didn’t care about that moral duty?”

“That’s right.”

I pushed the characters under my command into death and used them as throwaway cards.

I traded many lives for the sake of clearing the sub-quests, treasure chests, and achievements.

I exchanged many lives for efficiency. That's how I was able to break through the Hell-Ironman.

“But if I were to clear like that again, then that’d mean I didn’t progress at all.”

I smirked.

“I want to become a better person than I was yesterday.”

Aider looked at me with a complicated expression.

“That restriction will strangle m’lord one day.”

“I don’t care.”

I didn’t want to pretend to be a saint, but I also didn’t want to be a monster either.

Even in a world where the weight of life was lighter than a feather, I wanted to be humane.

That is all.

“Anyway, take good care of Evangeline, Aider. She’s a little girl still going through puberty. She must be going through a lot right now.”

“Understood, m’lord.”

Aider bowed his head in silence at my words, then appeared to have remembered something.

“By the way, m’lord.”

“Yes?”

“Uhm, about Miss Evangeline’s spear and the shield that you destroyed yesterday.”

“Ah, yes.”

The two of Evangeline’s equipment were destroyed by my triple-seven punch. I haven’t told her about it yet.

“After some assessment, both the spear and the shield turned out to be SSR-rank items…”

“......”

“They’re in a very dire state that there’s really nothing left to get from them. How are you planning on compensating for these…”

My mind went blank for a moment.

Those were SSR-rank items? Both of them?

Not only were they very expensive, but they were also very rare.

I’m not sure if I should be impressed by the power of Prince Punch that destroyed both of them in one shot.

“Wh-what if we make her new ones?”

“If you want to forge advanced equipment, then you’ll need some mana cores…”

Right. I spent all of the leftover mana cores on the magic gun.

“What if I give her my Lucky Strike? W-would that be a good enough (무승부)

“I don’t think that’d work out…”

“Dammit!”

I pressed my forehead because of the headache. Then I let out a sigh and spoke.

“Gather the party.”

It was about time to go explore the dungeon anyway.

I opened my tired eyes and jumped up from my chair.

“Let’s go collect mana cores!”

Equipment like that, I’ll just make some new ones!

* * *

So on the evening of that day. In the backyard of the mansion.

“Feels like it’s been a while.”

I said as I looked around at the party members that were called.

“Have you been resting well these few days?”

There were the usual members. Me, Lucas, Demian, Jupiter, and…

“Why me agaaaain?!”

Lily. Her reaction is kinda getting dull now.

As soon as the summon was issued, Lily tried to run away. However, I already knew that and spread the soldiers around the alchemists’ workshop in advance.

Lily was caught on the run and was brought by force. Lily, with tears in her eyes, cried out desperately.

“I heard new recruits joined! Take them instead!”

It was exactly as she said. I did recruit a few characters from the Mercenary guild.

The problem is, all of them were gray, N-rank.

Plus, they had no special ability.

They will of course become good combatants if they grow in future battles, but they are not good enough to be included in the main party.

It would be best to operate them as a sub-party.

So after thorough assessment… The R-rank flame mage, Lily, was called back to the main party.

Furthermore, Lily was able to reach level 20 and finished her first-class advancement.

She learned a new skill, ‘fire cannon’.

It's a skill that simply throws a fireball with strong power, but it’s still magic.

It guarantees more power than a mediocre mercenary.

“The items you ordered from the blacksmith the other day! They can only be completed through a collaboration with the Alchemists’ workshop, right? I will supervise as hard as I can! Please, Your Highness?!”

Lily was begging as she grabbed me by my trouser leg.

“Hmmm…”

I groaned in trouble.

I also have no intention of having Lily in the main party forever.

Taking a unit that can't even walk due to an injury to that dangerous dungeon is obviously unreasonable.

However, the reality is that there is nobody that can replace her spot.

‘If a hero character that is good enough to replace Lily is recruited, even if it is an N-ranked unit, I would replace her right away, but…’

The supply of hero characters is slow.

The number of newcomers to the mercenary guild is still small. I'm picking them all up as they come.

‘It’d be great if I could recruit a decent NPC from the dungeon, but that’s completely up to luck…’

I put my chin on my palm and thought hard about it.

‘What do…?’

“Pleeeease, Your Highness! I beg for your mercyyyyy!”

Lily started shouting out loud as she started begging for my mercy. She really is pretty desperate.

It was at that moment.

“Where are you headed?”

The voice of a little girl resounded through the room. Everyone turned to look in the direction of the source.

Evangeline trotted from the side of the mansion with a sullen look on her face.

Now that she’s not even armed, I’m sorry to say this repeatedly, but she really is small…

“Ah!”

Lily urgently asked me with her eyes twinkling as if she had detected the aura of an SSR-ranked unit radiating from Evangeline.

“Your Highness! This lady is…?!”

“...I reckon this may be the first time for some of you. Everyone, say hi.”

I introduced her as I had no other choice.

“She’s the only daughter of Earl Cross, Evangeline Cross.”

* * *

* * *

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Surprised by the introduction that she was the daughter of the Earl, Lily and Demian hurriedly bowed.

Jupiter extinguished the cigarette and gave a sharp salute.

“My sincerest condolences about what happened to your father, Lady Evangeline.”

Evangeline replied with a flawless salute. What a gorgeous salute, as expected from a cadet.

“Thank you for your concerns, but I’m fine.”

After that, Evangeline looked at me.

“So, where are you headed?”

I didn’t feel like answering, but I answered honestly.

“To the dungeon.”

“Dungeon, you say? There shouldn’t be a dungeon around this city…”

“Don’t tell me, you mean the dungeon under the lake?!”

“Oh? You also knew about it?”

“The lake is just the mouth of hell from which monsters crawl out from. The rumor that there is a dungeon under it is just an old story.”

Evangeline crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders.

“Occasionally, foolish adventurers flocked to the lake for treasure, but no one ever returned.”

“Scratch that, because we’ve already been there before.”

In disbelief, Evangeline raised her pointy eyes. I also shrugged my shoulders.

“And will continue to return from it.”

“...So what Your Highness is saying is.”

Evangeline raised her finger and questioned.

“There is a dungeon that even our Cross family, who have ruled this place for generations, do not know about, and Your Highness has been there. Is that right?”

“Of what you said, the latter is correct, but the former is not. Evangeline.”

I grinned.

“Your family may have known about it. It’s just that you never got to know about it.”

“...!”

Evangeline bit her lips.

She didn't take the lessons she was supposed to receive as an heir to the Cross family.

Instead, she took a course as an elite officer at the Imperial Academy.

Even if secrets about the dungeon under the lake were handed down from the Cross family, she would have no way of knowing.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. Because we are going anyway.”

We have to in order to compensate you for the broken weapons.

When I waved my hand to sign her off, Evangeline took a step forward.

“I’m going with you.”

“What?”

“I may not look like it, but I graduated at the top of my class in the Imperial Academy. I promise you that I’ll be more helpful than anyone in terms of combat, ‘Sunbae’.”

Evangeline put strength on the title of ‘Sunbae’.

I reckon it was her attempt to appeal that she had graduated from the school that I’ve gone to and that she was capable of doing her part.

Hm. I groaned.

“Yeah, I know that, Hubae. But.”

“Take me with you. If there really is something under the lake, I will see it with my own eyes.”

“Hmmm…”

“I am the one and only heir to the Cross family, and both my parents were killed by monsters from the lake. I think I have at least the right to follow.”

I shut my mouth.

That was exactly why I wanted to keep you away from fighting the monsters under the lake.

‘Because that was your father’s wish…’

Having swallowed the words, I gave a chin gesture.

“How about your body? Gotten better?”

Evangeline unwrapped the bandage on her arm instead of answering.

Her minor cuts and bruises had completely healed. I guess that’s thanks to the resilience of an SSR-ranked tanker.

“How about your feelings?”

“Pardon?”

“Have you calmed down?”

“......”

She learned of her father's death just a few hours ago. I reckon she’d still feel fluttered.

“Staying still makes me feel more disturbed. It’s better to move my body around.”

Straightening her tousled hair at the back of her head, Evangeline opened her pointed eyes right away.

“So how are you? You’ll take me with you, right?”

“...Fine.”

There were no more excuses to use to refuse her.

I turned my head to the side. I saw Lily who was twinkling her eyes to the point of scaring me.

“Then, Lily. You can stay in Crossroad.”

“Yeeesss~!”

Lily started dancing as she flailed her two arms. She seemed very happy…

“By the way, have you seen my spear and shield?”

Evangeline asked as she noticed that the rest of the party members were fully armed.

“I clearly remember having them with me before I passed out yesterday…”

“C-cough! Ahem! Well, they were a little damaged, so I left them at the smithy for repairs.”

I hurriedly gave hand signals to Aider. Aider hastily ran to the warehouse.

“I’ll lend you some leftover equipment, so use that for now.”

“Well… I don’t mind.”

After a few minutes, Aider brought a spear and a shield from a carriage in the warehouse.

“Huff, huff, huff! I brought the first thing I managed to find…!”

As expected, it was a large cavalry spear and shield. Both were a little smaller than Evangeline was originally equipped with but still large.

Evangeline was delighted and she put on both gears.

“I used these when I was little. It’s been so long.”

Swoon! Swoosh!

Evangeline nodded her head after lightly rotating her huge cavalry spear like a pen.

“These are too light for me now… But they are somewhat usable.”

They look like pretty damn heavy pieces of steel. How is that too light?”

‘Right. Her strength stat is 35.’

She’d still beat me in an arm wrestle even if there were 5 of me, probably…

“Alright, I’m ready.”

Evangeline equipped the lance by dangling it on the leather strap that she was wearing as she confirmed one more time.

“You’re accepting me into your party, right?”

“Fine, fine. I gotta listen to my dear Hubae.”

I opened the system window, removed Lily, and put Evangeline in.

[Main Party (5/5)]

- Ash (EX) Lv.11

- Lucas (SSR) Lv.31

- Jupiter (SR) Lv.37

- Demian (N) Lv.24

- Evangeline (SSR) Lv.35

Ring!

A new party synergy was applied.

One commander. Two knights. One healer. And one mage.

[Activated Party Synergy]

> (Commander 1) Battle Guard: This party’s morale is never lowered.

> (Knights 2) Dual Knights: The physical defense of all party members is increased by 20%

The Knights synergy was activated. The party just got more sturdy.

“......”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No reason.”

I equivocated Evangeline’s question, who seemed puzzled.

I felt uncomfortable in a corner of my heart because I remembered the Earl dying in my arms, but honestly, it's reassuring to have an SSR tank in the party.

I grinned.

“I look forward to working with you, Hubae.”

Then, Evangeline's brow furrowed.

“By the way, for how long are you going to call me Hubae?”

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