Growth Hero 2

by Brent Tyman

  “For the second trial, the challenge is simple,” the headmaster explained. “You will travel deep into the Dungeon and deliver to us the highest rarity of monster loot you can provide. Within your group, the party with the most valuable loot submitted will advance to the final stage.”

  All of us considered this for a moment, before Juliana raised her hand once again.

  “Headmaster, how will you determine what monster loot is the most valuable?”

  “An excellent question,” the headmaster said.

  For some reason, sitting here like this reminded me of my college years. All that was missing was a desk, a pen, some paper and my backpack containing the laptop I had at the time.

  Even now, part of me wanted to reach down and grab it out of my backpack, but it was firmly back home in my apartment on another world, likely sold off with my gaming PC…

  “The value of each party’s monster loot will be determined by the current selling price of the Adventurers Guild at the time of submission. To ensure fairness and account for any variation in prices, we will only value your submission once all three parties in a group are ready.”

  Yep, the way he talked about our submissions really reminded me of college...

  “How will you know that the loot isn’t just bought from the guild?” Clarissa asked, although she opted to cross her legs over raising her hand. “You never know what unflattering actions some people will do to win…”

  Clarissa pointedly looked over at Stephania, seated at the other end of the area.

  I could only press my lips into a thin line and resist the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. It was going to take a lot of work, before those two would warm up to each other. I had hope, though. Juliana and Clarissa hadn’t gotten off to the best of starts and now they’d become good friends.

  “What are you trying to say, Clarissa Vos Hoganna?” Stephania asked, her eyes narrowing. “If you haven’t noticed, more of my nation is present here. Only four of yours are even advancing at all.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” someone behind me said. “Hoganna is gonna win!”

  “Little chance of that, Yunissa has the edge.”

  “How can you even stand Yunissa? It’s all snow and gloom up there.”

  “Better than the Sovereignty’s dreary smoke and fire. You can’t walk two minutes in its countryside before you see fire mages burning out entire forests to build more outposts.”

  To my surprise, the rather serene atmosphere from before had disappeared. All I could hear now, were the other parties shouting at each other. The headmaster called for silence, which did quiet down the Academy students, but did little to quell the adventurers.

  “You Yunissans and Hogannans have no chance against us!”

  “Just you wait until Yunissa wins this tournament!”

  “Silence!”

  The headmaster’s voice cut through the air and I even felt the walls rumble for a split second. His robes momentarily flapped behind him before returning to settle on his frame.

  “To answer your question, Clarissa,” the headmaster said much more calmly, after the commotion had stilled once again. “The Academy has developed many ways to extract additional information on monster loot, and indeed, many other objects. You can expect one of our faculty members on hand to cast a spell which will tell us when the loot was produced, who landed the final blow and many other details. All of this will be made available through our interfaces.”

  Wait, they had a spell that could do that? While this probably wasn’t that useful a spell for me, I half wondered if they could use it on the artifact pearl that I still had in my belt pouch. That was assuming it even counted as monster loot.

  The fact that the Academy had a lot of sophisticated ways to ensure this tournament ran smoothly told me that not all of their coin had gone right into the golden furniture.

  “You can rest assured that we will not allow any submissions that were not obtained as we intend,” the headmaster said. “Now, I believe my staff has finished compiling the list of groups for the second stage.”

  At this, a staff member handed the headmaster some parchment. He examined it for a moment before continuing.

  I wasn’t entirely sure how the groups would be formed, but from what I could tell on my own, once the headmaster had listed out the party groupings, we would be in the all-Sovereignty group. The other two parties, coincidentally, seemed to be the lowest ranking members out of all the Sovereignty parties, making me feel like this had been done intentionally.

  On the bright side, this did mean that from our group, the Sovereignty would advance a team to the next stage, no matter what happened. It also meant that if we won, we’d knock out two Sovereignty parties.

  The second stage was due to start in two days’ time, giving us the rest of today and all of tomorrow to come up with a strategy to gain whatever monster loot we determined to go for.

  On the day of the trial, we would enter the Dungeon on the first floor and have most of the day to get the most valuable monster loot we could. The timings for each group would be staggered throughout the day, to ensure that everyone didn’t come back at the same time.

  Apparently, this information spell of theirs took quite a lot of time to analyze the monster loot and used up a lot of Magical Capacity, requiring time between casts.

  That was something I could definitely understand.

  Once the headmaster was finally done with his explanations, he encouraged anyone that wished to ask him more questions to come to him directly, but the rest of us could leave if we were satisfied.

  That prompted a lot of shuffled chairs as both adventurers and Academy students got up to leave, while also discussing their group matchups.

  “Gods, we’re up against two parties from Yunissa. It would be very embarrassing if they lost to our four member party, no?” Kesara mused. Juliana’s retinue had taken up seats behind us, so I turned around to face them.

  “The odds are not in our favor, but I believe we will still emerge victorious,” Karl said as he fiddled with his glasses.

  “Just remember to fight well to advance,” Juliana said.

  “Of course, My Lady, we will not disappoint you,” Vencia said.

  “This challenge seems to have more to do with how much risk you wish to take on, in order to obtain the highest rarity of loot. There’s also no telling how capable your opponents are… hmm…” Karl mused as he absently stroked his chin.

  “Perhaps if we do well enough, the finals will be a match between Alex and us. I can already hear the crowd chanting my Clan name,” Daiver said, grinning.

  “I would hope not. It would be a very one sided match,” Karl said as he grabbed some parchment from one of his many pockets and started his usual scribbling.

  A thought occurred to me as everyone here discussed the recent developments about the tournament’s second stage.

  “By the way Karl, I know you had trouble with that artifact scroll, but did you glean anything at all from it?” I asked curiously.

  Karl looked up from his parchment and tilted his head in thought.

  “Nothing substantial, unfortunately. However, I do intend to revisit it soon once an order of extra reference material is delivered from the capital. My family was more than happy to retrieve a select few parchments from the Sovereignty’s Library.”

  I could only assume he meant the capital of Tasberg, where the rest of his family probably lived.

  “The only context I inferred from the text was about souls, monsters, and various references to Judgement, as if it were some physical entity. Needless to say, my curiosity is piqued, and I cannot wait to get the required reference materials,” he said.

  I had heard the word ‘Judgement’ before, from what had been the Titan’s last words.

  “Judgement awaits, down below…” I whispered to myself, remembering the monster’s final, wheezing words. Whatever could it mean?

  “Alex,” Aurielle said, snapping me out of my
musings. “It appears we must vacate the area. I still have limited use of my Ethereal magic, shall we do more of this grinding of yours, today?”

  I couldn’t help it and grinned at her use of my term, as I watched the other parties leave the area, heading off back the way we had originally come.

  “Now you’re speaking my language, Aurielle,” I said as I got up, prompting Juliana and Clarissa to do the same.

  Technically, she probably wasn’t able to speak the language I knew and grew up with back on my own world, but they didn’t need to know that. The fact that I had come to this world and didn’t have to mess about with learning the language here was one heck of a time saver.

  Even if I still had no idea how it was possible…

  “Oh! More grinding today?” Juliana asked.

  I nodded. “Just a little bit more, then we should head back to the Academy or Golden Bear to work out what monster we want to do for the second stage.”

  “Fine, fine,” Clarissa said, waving a hand, “But I’ve gotten sick of sleeping alone, so we’ll need to make some time to spend together, handsome. How about… you promise to take me to the beach once the tournament is over and done with?”

  “There are beaches here?” I asked

  Clarissa nodded with a smirk. “Of course! There’s a nice long coastline east of here towards Hoganna, that would be perfect.”

  “Why does it feel like you want to take Alex to Hoganna?” Juliana asked in a low tone.

  “Because I’m sure he will love it there,” Clarissa insisted, wagging a finger. “The sunny skies, the green grass, the lovely hot spring in my room. It’s the perfect place for my handsome Alex to settle down, after achieving absolute victory in the tournament.”

  Juliana evidently didn’t agree, but before they kicked off one of their arguments, I quickly led the women towards the entrance to the eighth floor. Despite them having become friends, they still had a ways to go before my life would become much easier.

  The headmaster and his staff had already begun to pack up and depart; everyone else that remained was busy packing.

  It was still pretty lame that the Academy was going to keep all of the loot from today’s efforts, as that would have gone a long way towards paying for this week’s lodging at the Golden Bear.

  I tried not to dwell on it too much. Hopefully, they didn’t try to claim whatever rare monster loot we obtained. It’d be a pity to see that coin simply go into another gaudy golden furnishing or bauble at the Academy.

  As we walked, I couldn’t help but get excited about this second stage. We’d need to do a little research about the Dungeon’s deeper levels and figure out what monsters were most valuable. I was sure that if we put our heads together on this, this second stage of the tournament would be pretty straightforward. I was sure we would succeed.

  And then, we’d be one step closer to winning the tournament outright!

  23

  “Ugh! This is so hard!” Clarissa protested, smacking her pile of parchments on the bed.

  “I agree,” Aurielle said, as she flipped over another parchment on her lap. “I cannot find anything appealing.”

  “Oh, oh!” Anny said, raising a hand. “Here’s one. Floor fourteen has Giant Ants. Ahh, this floor is unique in that it has Worker Ants worth ten copper which is quite low compared to the other floors near it but also has Soldier Ants, worth twenty four copper.”

  Anny had a quizzical look on her face as she raised her head. “Is this good?”

  I let out a breath and crossed my arms.

  “Twenty four copper seems good, but… It feels kind of low for this tournament,” I said.

  “I know what you mean,” Juliana replied as she set down her parchments. “Perhaps a break is in order.”

  We had spent the rest of the day, yesterday, grinding on floors seven and eight. It turned out, however, trying to pick out a monster to submit for the tournament was going to be a bigger challenge than I’d expected.

  Juliana had somehow managed to get detailed lists of selling prices for monster loot from the Guild. I wasn’t entirely sure how she’d done it, but she also managed to get copies of the parchments for all of us to look over.

  All of us had decided to spend some time back in our room in the Golden Bear, figuring out our strategy. The bed was big enough for all five of us to sit on, though Clarissa was pretty much lounging on it. Even after spending several hours looking through each list, we were still no closer to agreeing on which monster loot to go for.

  It also didn’t help that we weren’t entirely sure which monsters had been wiped out of the Dungeon by the Demons.

  There was a pretty obvious clue to that though. The loot for the Slimes on floor six had rocketed in price, as had whatever loot the Lizardnoots dropped on floor five. It did seem like the deeper you went into the Dungeon, the more valuable the loot was, but while that was true for the most part, the Guild had wildly different prices for certain items.

  Since this stage of the tournament was based solely on the Guild price for whatever we submitted, the last thing we wanted to do was to fight through an extra couple of floors just to find out that an earlier monster was worth more at the time.

  “Shall we head to dinner, Alex?” Juliana asked.

  It was dinner time, already? Jeez… we really had been at this for a while.

  “Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m gonna keep at this for a little while longer.”

  “Very well, does anyone else wish to join me?” Juliana asked.

  Clarissa got up from the bed and stretched out her limbs with a yawn. “Fine, let’s eat then we can keep working at this later or something. Coming, Anny? How about you, Aurielle?”

  “Okay,” Anny chirped as she stood up. “This was pretty exhausting.”

  “I shall stay with Alex,” Aurielle said, and for some reason, that seemed to garner a very sly look from Clarissa.

  “Oh my, she acts fast, right Juliana?” Clarissa asked

  Juliana’s cheeks reddened as she quickly kissed me on the lips before dragging a smirking Clarissa out of the room, with Anny following right behind them.

  Huh. I wondered what the heck that was about.

  “Alex,” Aurielle said, grabbing my attention. “I wish to discuss something with you, something very…” She frowned. “I’m not quite sure how to put this into words.”

  Aurielle’s beautiful face never failed to captivate me. Juliana’s cheeks blushed all the time, but for Aurielle, it seemed to happen almost in slow motion.

  “Go ahead, I’m all ears,” I grinned.

  Aurielle took the time to change positions, opting to sit next to me on the bed, not unlike how we had first talked to each other in this room.

  “As you know, I am destined to return to my homeland, and face whatever ails it,” she began.

  I nodded. Aurielle’s duty was something very important to her, and I intended to help her out with it however I could.

  “I’ve always known that my journey would either lead to victory or that I would suffer the same fate as the rest of the Chosen,” she continued. “I cannot escape my duty, nor do I wish to.”

  Again, I really had a hard time imagining what could possibly be in the South Pralisian Deserts that was stronger than the beautiful woman beside me.

  Especially with that Ethereal magic of hers.

  “Yeah, and remember, I’ve already told you several times that I’ll be happy to help you out with that. You just have to say the word,” I replied, smiling.

  Aurielle returned my smile, though doing so seemed to fluster her for a brief moment. She shook her head before continuing. “Yes, thank you, again. But what I wish to discuss is more… personal.”

  I raised an eyebrow as Aurielle took a deep breath.

  “I am uncertain what awaits me in my homeland, but after traveling with you, I’ve realized that I’ve grown … well… I mean…”

  Aurielle fumbled with her words, but I was pretty sure I knew what she was
talking about. I had found myself increasingly drawn to Aurielle, the longer that I knew her. I wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed, though. On the one hand, I already had realized my harem dream with Juliana and Clarissa, each amazing women in their own right.

  I had developed something special with Aurielle, though. Our relationship was something I just couldn’t quite put into words—though it was well on the way to becoming the same type of bond that I had with Juliana and Clarissa.

  “You know,” I said, raising a hand to rub the back of my neck as Aurielle continued to fumble with her words. “If it helps, I’ve been thinking about you… about us… a lot since we met.”

  Aurielle’s eyes widened as her face displayed several emotions in rapid sequence.

  “Truly?” she questioned.

  I nodded. “Yeah. You’re awesome, Aurielle. I’m real glad we met,” I said honestly.

  She smiled at me and reached out to grab my hand.

  “I am too,” she said simply.

  We ended up staring into each other’s eyes, something I just couldn’t stop doing with this woman. With a gulp and a deep breath, I pulled myself out of their depths and studied the floor intently for a moment.

  I decided to throw caution to the wind and just say it.

  “Aurielle, do you wanna see where this goes with us?” I asked, feeling a weight lift from my shoulders, once I’d finally gotten it out in the open.

  The silence that greeted my rushed statement caused me to wince before I turned to look at the woman beside me. I did a double take when I saw Aurielle’s reaction.

  Her smile had widened, but it also had a hungry quality to it.

  “I… I would consider it an honor, Alex Augere.”

  I tried so damn hard to keep it in, but I couldn’t help it. I burst into laughter at her rather formal declaration.

  “Hahaha! How did I know you were going to say that?” I said, grinning.

  “My thoughts have been often centered on you, these past few weeks. Before I return to my homeland, I had wished for you to know this,” Aurielle said, turning a tad serious. “I am glad that you felt the same. Truly.”