Chapter 46: Transformation Craving and the Bond of Four
“Geez! Kouichi, you’re late!”
“…Huh?”
When I entered the Private Dungeon, Pretear was there.
Pretear in a pink yukata… that must be Tear Festival.
“Watch me! I’m going to defeat Morisage!”
“…Yes?”
“I won’t lose! Hyaaah!”
Pretear leaped a good five meters into the air, spun around, and landed a short distance away.
Her physical abilities are incredible…!
“Sparkle Stick!!”
Manamin… no, Pretear, pulled out an incredibly colorful stick from her waist.
“Watch me!”
“Ah, yes.”
The amount of information was already too much to handle.
That “Watch me” just now probably wasn’t directed at me, but was her catchphrase.
“Pretear… Star Mine Memories!!”
With her shout, the tip of the stick glowed white.
And then.
“Huh!?”
Booooom!
A ball of light shot up into the sky and bloomed into a large, red firework.
“What was that…? Fire magic…!?”
It looked powerful enough to take out a bunch of goblins at once.
“Don’t forget this most wonderful memory!”
“H-Hey, Manamin! Show me your stats!”
“Manamin…? Are you referring to me?”
“Ugh… A-Alright, Festival, show me your stats.”
“Very well, here you go. Pretear Status Open!”
To be honest, this is a pain in the ass.
I checked Manamin’s stats.
Name: Tear Festival (Miyanohara Manami)
Level: 18 (Base: 5)
EXP: 38/91
HP: 108
MP: 61/91
Attack: 76
Defense: 51
Speed: 58
Intelligence: 88
Skills: 【Transformation Craving】, 【Martial Arts】, 【Nimble】, 【Courage】
Special Abilities: Pretear Star Mine Memories
“Level 18…!? What’s going on?”
But, if this is the case, then maybe…
“Manamin, I have something important to talk about. Please listen for a bit.”
“I am Tear Festival, however…”
“It’s something important that concerns Shi-chan too…! Please!”
At that, Tear Festival, or rather Manamin, took off her pink wig.
“…Did something happen?”
“Manamin!”
Just her talking to me normally made me happy.
“Actually…”
I explained the situation I’d heard from Shi-chan.
…………
“…And that’s the gist of it. So, if possible, I’d like you to get your General Explorer License in the next exam, Manamin.”
“…I see.”
Manamin, still in her Pretear outfit, crossed her arms.
“I was just thinking I wanted to try out various things with my skills too. This is super fun, after all. I’ll apply for the exam. Anyway… Ko-chin.”
“…Hm?”
“You… you’ve changed.”
“Have I?”
I’m not aware of it myself, but…
“You have, Ko-chin. You’ve become more dependable.”
“Ah, uh… Thanks.”
I never expected Manamin to say something like that to me, so I felt embarrassed.
“A long time ago, after Shi-chan moved to Tokyo… you lost the will to keep the three of us together, didn’t you?”
“That’s…”
It’s true.
The sin I committed when I was young.
“The smart Shi-chan went to Tokyo. Tamama, with her good reflexes, gradually had her talents recognized. Ko-chin, you didn’t have as obvious a talent as those two. You realized that and felt intimidated, right? And timid me couldn’t say anything and ended up alone…”
“…I’m sorry.”
But Manamin’s test scores were also much better than mine.
I thought I was at the bottom.
Among the four of us, I was the one with the least talent.
Even smiling next to Otama-chan gradually became difficult.
Did someone like me have the right to lead everyone?
…Back then, that’s what I thought.
“–This time, you’ll protect us, right?”
Manamin thrust her fist forward.
I…
“–Yeah. I’ll protect you all.”
I bumped my fist against Manamin’s.
It’s not really something you do with Pretear, but…
“Kehkeh, that’s my Papa.”
“I’m not your Papa!”
Alright, with this, it looks like Manamin can explore with us too.
Anyway.
“Manamin, you’re level 5, not 1? Were you from the start?”
“No… I was level 1 during the national inspection. It probably went up when I entered here yesterday.”
“Come to think of it, Shi-chan said something like that too… I wonder why?”
“–I have a hypothesis. We can probably figure it out if we test about five things.”
“Seriously…?”
As expected, Manamin is smart too.
Back then, I compared myself to her and was tormented by an inferiority complex, but thinking of her as a comrade with the same goal, she’s very reliable.
“But, there’s something we need to do before that.”
“Something to do…?”
“Yeah, I’m going to become Tier Music this time.”
☆★☆
I caught a newly appeared dragonfly and waited for Manamin.
Bwoin!
Encyclopedia No. 9/251
Name: Scarlet Magic Dragonfly
Rarity: 0
Capture Skill: None
Capture EXP: 1 (0.1 for those Level 3 or higher)
Drop Items: Magic Stone (Tiny), ???
Just then.
“Ko-chin, look!”
“Woah!”
A light blue Pretear came leaping over the rice paddy.
Even with a different color, her physical abilities are high.
Zuzazazaa!!
“That’s some amazing jumping power…”
“No, that’s not it. Look.”
“At what…?”
“This! …《Dress Change》!!”
“Eh…!?”
Then, the clothes Manamin was wearing glowed white.
No, rather than glowing, it was more like only her clothes became almost perfectly white…
And then.
“Tear Festival!”
Including the wig, her outfit switched in an instant.
“Ooh…!”
What kind of mechanism is that?
“This is…?”
“I achieved 《Change a Full Set of Equipment Inside a Dungeon》, so I learned two skills. The quick-change special ability 《Dress Change》, and an item box exclusively for equipment, 【Magical Closet】.”
“That’s amazing… Is it thanks to the Private Dungeon?”
I don’t know the logic behind it, though.
But, Manamin said.
“No… this is thanks to you, Ko-chin.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything, though?”
“Before you came, Ko-chin, I wore the Tier Music outfit once. But I didn’t learn any skills like this back then.”
“Does that mean you learned the skill because you were with me?”
“–That’s right.”
“Seriously…?”
I wonder if Otama-chan’s skill acquisition was like that too.
Anyway.
“Manamin, did you know you could learn skills by changing clothes…? Is that why you tried again after I arrived…?”
“No way. It was to show you Tier Music’s Pretear Melodious Circle.”
“O-Oh…”
It’s not like I particularly wanted to see it, but Manamin probably just wanted to show off.
“…I should practice 《Dress Change》 a bit more… If I can change parts individually, I might be able to recreate a transformation scene…”
“Yeah, yeah.”
She’s even developed a strange fixation.
“So, are we going to tackle the mystery of the increased experience points now?”
Why did Manamin level up?
Why did Shi-chan level up?
“Yeah. And, it’s verifiable. It seems we won’t need to call Tamama either. Status Open!”
Name: Tear Festival (Miyanohara Manami)
Level: 18 (Base: 5)
EXP: 88/91
HP: 108
MP: 56/91
Attack: 76
Defense: 51
Speed: 58
Intelligence: 88
Skills: 【Transformation Craving】, 【Magical Closet】, 【Martial Arts】, 【Nimble】, 【Courage】
Special Abilities: Dress Change, Pretear Star Mine Memories
“…Your strength hasn’t changed from before.”
“No, look closely.”
“Ummm…”
I can see that the two skills she just learned have been added, but other than that…
“Ah…”
“Did you notice?”
“Yeah.”
I got it.
Her experience points have increased.
A moment ago, the numbers indicated she was still far from leveling up, but now it looks like she could level up any second.
“Kehkeh, that’s right. If my hypothesis is correct… 《Dress Change》!”
Pretear’s clothes glowed white, changing from pink to light blue.
“–Status Open.”
When Manamin opened her stats.
Name: Tier Music (Miyanohara Manami)
Level: 19 (Base: 6)
EXP: 47/127
HP: 112
MP: 96
Attack: 77
Defense: 60
Speed: 61
Intelligence: 81
Skills: 【Transformation Craving】, 【Magical Closet】, 【Martial Arts】, 【Nimble】, 【Courage】
Special Abilities: Dress Change, Pretear Melodious Circle
“She leveled up…!”
“Just as I thought… Well, there’s one more thing I wanted to verify… but it seems that’s no longer necessary.”
“Eh…?”
“Look at my experience points.”
I looked at her stats as she said.
Name: Tier Music (Miyanohara Manami)
Level: 19 (Base: 6)
EXP: 49/127
EXP: 56/127
EXP: 59/127
Her experience points are increasing?
Just like the numbers on a gas pump meter.
“Open your stats too, Ko-chin.”
“Ah, yeah…”
When I checked as told, my experience points were indeed increasing too.
Even though I wasn’t doing anything.
“Keke, I figured it out. This is probably the effect of 【Bond of Friendship】… It’s a pretty useful skill, I tell ya.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. We can confirm it later if we ask Tamama if she was using her 【Water User】 skill around this time.”
“So, what kind of effect is it…?”
Then, Manamin said.
“The skill 【Bond of Friendship】 is likely a composite skill with two effects. One is an effect that lets you gain experience points when you use a skill derived from the 【Childlike Heart】 skill. In other words, it’s an effect that turns play into experience points.”
“…I see.”
“And the other one. It’s an effect that allows you to share experience points from play among party members. The difference in the amount gained by the user versus the members is unknown. And, it seems this is effective even if you’re spatially separated.”
“So the experience point increase just now was thanks to Otama-chan, huh…”
Come to think of it, during the Private Dungeon investigation, Otama-chan was using her 【Rental】 skill the whole time.
That must have converted into experience points and been added to the four of us.
“How about that? Looks like I hit the mark, right?”
Manamin grinned mischievously.
“Yeah—I understand perfectly now.”
I looked up at the blue sky.
“—It means that even when we’re apart, we’re connected by the 【Bond of Friendship】.”
—With this, we can do it.
We won’t lose.