Among the materials for combat vessels, ‘Spirit Steel’ is a powerful category. There are other anti-demon materials like ‘Holy Iron,’ but this one has particularly excellent properties.

“Understood. Let’s make a sword with that material.”

“If we’re making two swords, how long will it take?”

“Roughly five days.”

In that case… I hand over the materials. Immediately after, Sylvie speaks.

“Interesting material… but it’s quite peculiar.”

“But its properties will be useful in the future, right?”

When I ask, Sylvie shrugs. Then, Sofia asks a question.

“Um, what do you mean?”

“Oh, Sofia doesn’t know its properties? This Spirit Steel increases in power the more magic power you pour into it.”

In the game, I believe the attack power increased or decreased depending on magic power. In the game, it was strong for humans with high Magic Warrior abilities and magic power, but for characters who didn’t use magic, it wasn’t very useful.

However, in reality, where even warriors use Magic Barriers, many humans have higher magic power compared to the game. Sofia and Sylvie are also like that, so I thought this Spirit Steel could be used and decided to adopt it as a material this time.

However, this material is quite peculiar, and requires fine adjustments depending on the user. It would be easy to make for myself, but making a combat vessel tailored to Sofia and Sylvie, even if possible, would take quite a long time, so I decided to ask for it here.

Then, we entered price negotiations—I paid Ganack the agreed-upon fee and left the shop.

After starting to walk through the town, I tell Sofia and the others,

“Well… we’ll have to wait here for a while.”

“Are you going to take on a quest at the Guild?”

When Sylvie asks, I nod and say,

“Ah, yes. I’ll go to the Guild, so you two take care of the inn.”

“Understood.”

Sofia agrees, and we part ways for a bit. I go alone to the Guild.

Coastal Cave, which Ganack mentioned—I might as well investigate that area a bit… While thinking such thoughts, I arrive at the Guild. When I enter, there are quite a few people inside.

First, to the Receptionist. A man speaks, and I look at the list of requests.

There are some requests that existed in the game, but nothing about Coastal Cave.

“…By the way, I heard from someone at the shop I visited,”

I ask the male Receptionist.

I hear a monster has appeared in the cave on the coastline.

Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s a troublesome situation. The enemies are strong, so we’re being cautious, but so far, nothing major has happened. Requests for that area go to the Government Office, not here.

So the town itself is the client… Just as I was thinking that,

Hey, adventurers over there, are you interested in that story?

A lighthearted… no, rather, a somewhat frivolous-sounding male voice came from behind me.

I turned around. Standing there was a surprising person.

Actually, I accepted that request, and I was looking for collaborators.

He was just in his twenties. His short, crimson hair stood up a bit, and he wore a traveling cloak over Adventurer’s Wind leather armor.

Matching his voice, his facial features also gave off a somewhat lighthearted impression. Up to this point, he seemed like the same type as Gilbert, whom I met before, but the staff he held in his hand told the story that he wasn’t just a warrior.

If you’re interested, why don’t we talk?

His tone was like he was recruiting… I looked back at him and remained silent. However, it wasn’t because the man with the frivolous impression seemed strange. It was because I recognized him.

–Kuuza Baffat, one of the Three Powers.

Muttering his name in my mind, I asked him,

…You’re saying you received the request from the Government Office?

That’s right. Oh, but it’s really tough to gather companions.

Kuuza laughed heartily. He seemed somewhat like a jokester, but he’s a character who properly handles requests and helps people. His cheerful personality is innate, and he’s a person who acts as a mood maker.

He’s appearing here… Hmm, I’ll use the fact that I’ve heard about him from Sylvie to approach him skillfully.

…I’m Ruon Madin. And you?

Kuuza Baffat.

Kuuza…? Oh, I’ve heard of you.

When I explained about Sylvie then, he exclaimed, “Oh!”

That swordsman, huh?

Oh, that’s right, he doesn’t realize Sylvie is a woman… What should I do about that?

As I was pondering, he told me,

I’ve had dealings with her.

…Huh, her?

When I asked again, Kuuza suddenly made a face that said, “Oops.” It seemed he had figured it out.

In that case, things might go quickly… I thought, and then I mentioned,

I’m aware that she’s a woman.

Oh, is that so? No, in that case, it’s fine.

I can just talk to her about that when we meet again… Now then.

I returned to the topic and said to Kuuza,

…I was indeed interested in the cave on the coastline. Shall we talk?

My bad.

Kuuza smiled. After that, I left the shop with him.

At Kuuza’s request, we decided to eat a meal while discussing… On the way to find a restaurant, we reunited with Sofia and the others. Sylvie was surprised by Kuuza, and Sofia introduced herself. Eventually, we entered a restaurant and sat around a table, after which he began to speak.

There’s a reason why I accepted this request. Recently, the quality of monsters around here has been increasing, and it seems the monsters in the cave on the coastline are responsible for that increase.

…So, there’s a Demon Race or a boss monster that controls the monsters in this area there?

I believe so.

Kuuza nodded at my question.

I can’t determine what kind of monsters are there, though. So, I was a little curious and thought I’d investigate.

Should I investigate with a familiar? No, if it’s in the Cave Interior, monsters will surely find it, so it might be difficult.

“You said you were looking for collaborators.”

At this, Sylvie spoke.

“Are we good enough?”

“Yes, that’s fine. In fact, if it’s the people you’re working with, their abilities are pretty much guaranteed, right?”

Sylvie let out a small sigh as Kuuza spoke.

“I don’t mind. Sofia?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Kuuza snapped his fingers and said… Hmm, this might also be an opportunity to confirm his abilities.

His ability—it’s in a different place than high stats. In the game, there was a hidden ability for magic-user types called Casting Speed. There’s no difference with lower-tier magic, but it becomes clear with intermediate magic or higher.

It feels like there’s a positive or negative correction applied to the standard speed… but fundamentally, it was often a pattern where they were good at a specific elemental magic. For example, Kati, who temporarily fought with Phili in an event, had faster fire attribute casting speed, but in return, received a correction that made her slower with ice and water attributes.

This is information that many people don’t know, as it’s treated as a hidden parameter… but there was only one person whose ability was exceptionally high. That was Kuuza of the “Three Powers”.

His abilities weren’t that high compared to other magic-users. However, his Casting Speed was overwhelmingly fast compared to others, allowing him to cast lower-tier magic with almost no motion.

What kind of result did that bring? By continuously casting lower-tier magic, he was a magic-user who could connect attacks alone and completely suppress monsters.

In the case of skills, you always become stiff after performing an attack, so it doesn’t work that way. However, magic has no time lag until the next action, so you can continuously attack.

The drawback was that Kuuza’s own MP was low, making his fuel efficiency somewhat problematic… but that could be compensated for in many ways, so it wasn’t a big obstacle.

I suspect that ability is probably the same in reality… and this will be a good time to confirm it.

“Also, it seems there’s something troublesome happening.”

Kuuza continued. When we paid attention to his words, he began to speak.

“Apparently, that Coastal Cave was originally the dwelling of the Sea Spirit Nereids. That’s why the people of the Town seemed to consider it sacred… So, it’s probably because of those circumstances that the Government Office got involved.”

Spirits… There are spirits other than those that govern Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, but it seemed we were about to get involved with such beings next.