Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 169

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 169 — A Mysterious Incantation to Recharge One’s Drive
We had successfully recruited Brightfeather, a 1st Tier Class ally.
Of course, it wasn’t over yet.
Talendros, the god of fortune, harbors a visceral disgust for gains obtained too easily.
“…Wait, hold on a moment?”
Silpren lifted his goggles upward, squinting his eyes.
Brightfeather flinched at the red eyes of the fire elf before him.
“Brightfeather, you should think this through carefully before deciding on something like this.”
“…Is that so?”
“Good grief. Let me think it over a bit more first.”
With a quiet sigh, Silpren set down the repaired flying tool and handed it to me.
“Go ahead and take this for now.”
“Thank you very much.”
“And here’s your Coexistence Group certification stamp.”
Stamp.
The seal pressed down onto paper bearing the Heterogeneous Species Association’s logo.
A shape stylized after a pair of wings.
As I received the paper and tucked it into my Subspace, Silpren regarded me with an odd look.
“A Socialite of Twisted Truth? And a Half-Elf at that?”
“Would you like to see the promising seedling sprouting vigorously?”
“…That’s quite strange. How on earth did you become such a rising prospect? I doubt a Secret Art of Knowledge granted by an Evil Deity would be that useful.”
《Frustrating though it may be, that is a logical and objective question!》
“Your name is Kar, correct? Are you the leader of the Exploration Expedition?”
“Yes, I am. Kar, Half-Elf and captain of the Moon Expedition Party.”
“Your expedition’s name is as unconventional as your character….”
Silpren scratched the back of his head as he observed Brightfeather, who had somehow taken on the dejected air of one bearing guilt.
“Under the Heterogeneous Species Association’s regulations, the Coexistence Group is treated as an Exploration Expedition, so there’s no problem with him belonging to multiple expeditions simultaneously. Besides, I have no particular reason to object.”
Exploration Expeditions operate like crews, so it’s perfectly fine to belong to multiple ones at once.
Had he been part of the Unity Guild, where the Association chairman serves as guild master, things would have been different—that guild only accepts members who’ve demonstrated exceptional results in exploration.
At present, Brightfeather was merely an ordinary Association member who had yet to distinguish himself.
“But to be honest, I’m quite anxious about sending him out under an expedition captained by a Socialite, to tell the truth.”
“I understand your concern completely.”
Silpren’s anxiety was justified.
Had I been in his position, I wouldn’t have thoughtlessly sent Merlin and Abel out under a Socialite captain either.
“A Socialite, after all, might in an emergency sacrifice team members as offerings or exploit them as a means of religious devotion—so you can hardly relax sending them out with such a person.”
As I calmly acknowledged this, the fire elf’s expression, which had been gradually growing heated, calmed somewhat.
“Since you have a false celestial being on your team—one who will never associate with the wicked—you’re clearly not a malicious person yourself. That much is reassuring, at least.”
The false celestial being, who had drawn the gaze, calmly bobbed his head without concern and reached over to pat my hair.
“I vouch for him. Captain Kar is a sincere, dedicated, exemplary, and honest Half-Elf—quite unlike a typical Socialite.”
“Sigh….”
Silpren exhaled deeply once more and gestured to the parrot Join, who had been watching for his cue.
Brightfeather hurried over at once.
“Brightfeather, have you thought about it more?”
“U-um, yes…!”
Nod, nod.
As his head bobbed vigorously, the dangling necklaces clattered loudly against one another.
“I think I was too hasty in my decision…!”
I quietly moved the cupcake to the left.
Brightfeather’s two differently colored eyes followed it as though entranced.
“Ah, ah… maybe I’m starting to feel the urge to join after all….”
“…You shouldn’t make decisions based on food.”
“Oh, that’s right!”
Following Silpren’s remark, Brightfeather’s resolve wavered back and forth.
Anticipating this, I had brought another gift.
“Please look at this as well.”
I handed Brightfeather a small box.
The parrot Join’s eyes widened as he carefully received it and examined the contents.
“Wow, this many gemstones…!”
Gemstones of every color and variety.
They were hidden rewards from the Earth Elf’s Tomb that a money-obsessed youth had once collected and carried off—I’d purchased them back by offering twice their value in gold coins.
“I’ll give you everything. And going forward, all the Gemstones we obtain during our explorations—you’re welcome to keep them all, Brightfeather!”
A remarkably generous offer, made possible because all the team members except Merlin were free from greed.
“Ooooh!”
The parrot Join’s eyes, which had been trembling ceaselessly, finally steadied.
Silpren caught the shift in mood and wore a smile that seemed to say there was no helping it.
Yet he still showed no sign of backing down from his objection.
“It seems you still have more to say?”
“…I apologize.”
Silpren reached over and thoroughly mussed Brightfeather’s hair.
“Ow! My hair!”
“As you can see, this one is rather… how should I put it?”
“A genuinely good-hearted friend, if just a teensy bit slow?”
“Ah, that’s fitting enough. In any case, it’s always a source of concern.”
A hasty-tempered fire elf.
Silpren, commander of the Sky Flight Unit, had been Brightfeather’s guardian since childhood.
While the person in question could be swayed by gifts alone, winning over this elf was essential to securing his participation in the expedition.
“So here’s what I’d like—if you don’t mind, I’d like some time to observe and understand what kind of person Kar truly is.”
It was a proposal already anticipated.
The best way to prove my capability and character would be exactly the method I preferred.
Wasn’t Pletika a dungeon city where all character evaluations, socializing, competitions, and sports took place inside dungeons?
“Would you be willing to go exploring together?”
I had no time to deliberate.
“That would be absolutely wonderful.”
There was no reason for me to refuse.
“…Silpren.”
But I knew it might not be the same for someone else.
Brightfeather, visibly distressed, began to tremble violently.
“M-me? D-do I have to, to go exploring too?”
“…Of course you do. I mean, if you’re joining this person’s expedition, naturally you’d be exploring, right?”
“Uhhh…”
For me, it’s merely exploration.
But for this parrot Join, it’s something else entirely.
Pendrick was a comrade whose mere recruitment yielded absurdly powerful performance, but Brightfeather required essential preliminary work.
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
“U-uh…”
“Brightfeather.”
I lowered my posture slightly and met the gaze of those two differently colored eyes.
There was a gift more valuable than Cupcakes or Gemstones.
“I understand what condition you currently suffer from.”
The Penalty Trait called Unfamiliarity Phobia.
A condition where one feels profound fear in any unfamiliar situation.
For an explorer who must constantly face new environments, it was arguably the worst possible trait.
It was the decisive reason Brightfeather had been undervalued, but as research deepened, the situation had changed.
“If you come with me, I will cure that affliction.”
Even an inborn constitution—I could heal it.
Just as I had twisted the fate of Pendrick and Astrímia, who had nearly parted ways forever.
“Will you join me?”
I extended my hand slowly.
Brightfeather stared intently at my slender fingers, glanced back at Silpren, and then carefully took my hand.
“I’m counting on you…!”
***
Whoooosh—
Silpren’s sturdy owl descended deep into the forest and landed.
“If you eat this, it’ll work!”
Brightfeather brought over a beautifully formed mushroom growing near the base of a nearby tree.
It looked like a Poison Mushroom, but it was actually a nourishing medicinal tonic.
I accepted the mushroom and took a bite.
Crunch.
A Gate appeared right beside me.
[Sky Village] trivially conquered.
That’s why it wasn’t even on my list of dungeons to explore.
“Get in there.”
Whoosh!
Join was stowed away into the Beast Tamer Class exclusive space-type Artifact Cage.
Silpren emerged through the Gate and pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, then spoke to me.
“You should pick the Dungeon to explore yourself. Not one that takes a long time to clear—something we can finish quickly. The Heterogeneous Species Association’s regular executive meeting is in a few days, after all.”
“Understood. So you mean a Dungeon that doesn’t take long to clear but is strenuous and demanding?”
“Ah… I didn’t ask for it to be strenuous and demanding. But it doesn’t matter much either way. Brightfeather, what do you think?”
Brightfeather, asked the question, gave no answer at all.
He was too busy eating the third Cupcake I’d given him.
“Hehe… wait? What did you just say?”
“…Never mind. Enjoy your meal.”
“Then let’s head out. I’ve already scouted a Dungeon within the 5th District.”
The fake Celestial Lepicul and the Curse Collector Demon-type Being Bartimir.
And Silpren and Brightfeather of the Heterogeneous Species Association’s Sky Flight Unit.
The Dungeon I would explore with these four was located on a small hill formed within the 5th District.
“Oh, isn’t that Silpren?”
As I approached the Dungeon entrance, the Association member in charge of the Dungeon acted like he knew Silpren.
“What brings you to explore? Not flying around like usual.”
“Well… circumstances came up.”
“But this one here….”
The ears of the canine-type Association member who turned his head toward me twitched once.
“Huh?”
“That’s right. I’m that clever Half-Elf ‘Kar’ you’ve heard about. Care for a handshake?”
“Wow! Great to meet you!”
Swish, swish, swish.
After exchanging a handshake that was shaken up and down roughly, I placed my hand on the massive claw embedded in the ground at the entrance and entered the Dungeon.
“Hmm!”
Lepicul, who entered first, gazed around at his surroundings with keen interest.
Open wasteland in all directions.
Wherever I looked, nothing but red earth meeting the sky surrounded us.
《E-rank Dungeon – Endless Wasteland (:D)》
《As long as you follow the conquest method properly, it’s a Dungeon you can explore safely. That’s only if you’re judging this Dungeon on its own merits, of course!》
“This Dungeon is the E-rank Dungeon called the Endless Wasteland. Just as the name suggests, it really is quite expansive, isn’t it?”
“Oho….”
Lepicul stroked his chin with a smiling face.
“If it were merely a simple E-rank Dungeon, there’s no way Commander Kar would have ventured out to explore it. There’s likely some kind of special interesting element. This should be fun!”
….”
Silpren regarded the fake Celestial with a doubtful gaze.
“Are you really a Celestial? The way you speak is so….”
“Of course I’m a Celestial. I’m someone who loves all things positive in this world.”
“Hmm….”
The insight of an Elf who has lived over a century is truly a force not to be reckoned with.
But Silpren wasn’t the type to go around gossiping about the “suspicious Celestial,” so it was fine to just let him remain suspicious.
“…Aahhh.”
Meanwhile, Brightfeather, seeing such a vast wasteland for the first time in his life, was frightened and wrapping his wings around his face and body.
At this rate, we couldn’t proceed with the exploration.
Fortunately, I knew a mysterious incantation that could set ablaze the enthusiasm of the parrot Join, who carried the Unfamiliarity Phobia trait.
“Brightfeather.”
I spoke to Brightfeather in a low voice.
“Did you know? This Dungeon’s Hidden Reward includes a tool made of Gemstones that can make things shine in all sorts of different colors.”
“……!”
“Since I promised you all the Gemstones that come out during the exploration, naturally you can have that as well.”
The wings that had been wrapped around his face and body spread wide open.
“I’ll do my best…!”
Motivation recharged.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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