Ch.32Lesson

# 32. A Lesson

‘Tsk. You didn’t have to deny it so vehemently.’

Well, I was half-joking when I suggested it, and if the raid leader had actually agreed eagerly, I would have been quite flustered… Showering together right away despite having feelings seems like skipping too many steps.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed and let down.

“Yu-Yuri. Don’t you think you’re staring too intensely?”

“Ah. Sorry.”

I invited my sister to shower together, dragged her to the bathroom, and then got lost in thoughts about the raid leader.

This is all the raid leader’s fault anyway!

“Come to think of it, do we really need to shower together? Public bathhouses have multiple shower heads and separate bathing areas, right? But here…”

“Sis, you said you’ve never been to a public bathhouse before.”

“That’s true, but that much is common knowledge.”

“Ugh, do you dislike showering with me?”

Ah! My sister is making a troubled expression!

She’s so pretty it’s almost unfair, but I don’t know why she’s so kind and cute too. I really would have been so happy if she were my actual sister.

“Now that we’re already in the bathroom, we can’t just leave!”

“Sigh…”

I know.

I’m being a bit stubborn with this new sister who replaced my real one. But I think I haven’t crossed any lines.

Sister Seyeon is kind, but she’s not a pushover. If she really hated showering together, she wouldn’t be reluctantly going along with it like this—she would have cut me off sharply, right?

Of course, that’s just my opinion!

“We don’t have time to dawdle like this!”

The rough and tough raid leader only granted us a mere 2-hour break! Every minute and second is precious, so shouldn’t we hurry up and shower so we can lie down on the bed for even a little while?

So isn’t it perfectly reasonable, rational, and appropriate for me to help my sister undress?

Or not. Heh.

“Wait! I’ll! I’ll undress myself! I’ll do it myself! Kyaah!”

“Pfft-hehehe.”

“Yuri, you really…!”

Ah. My sister with her blushing face is too cute. It’s almost vexing that we like the same man.

So, to assess my competition… wouldn’t it be appropriate to examine my sister’s figure not just with my eyes but with my hands?

*Squish*

“Wow… they’re really soft?”

“……”

“‘I want to touch breasts’ was a meme based on truth, huh. Though it’s not quite to the point where my mind goes blank.”

*Squish squish*

“Ah, sis. Want to touch mine too?”

“Yu-ri-!”

Oops. Sister’s angry.

**

The bathroom was noisy. Even without looking, it was obvious that Saex was teasing and Cutjugyeora was retaliating.

Actually, I had anticipated this situation from the moment Saex suggested showering together with Cutjugyeora, so I wasn’t particularly surprised.

If you’re wondering what I was doing while they were having their happy(?) shower time.

[Cutjugyeora]

[Level 6][Title: Tower Entrant]

[Class: Holy Knight]

[Strength: 12][Dexterity: 10][Endurance: 12][Magic: 10][Will: 10]

[Remaining Points: 5]

[Skills 6]

[Common Skills 3]

– Rest(2)

– Basic Swordsmanship(3)

– Basic Shield Technique(3)

[Class Skills 3]

– Shield Charge(2)

– Basic Holy Magic(3)

– Holy Shield(2)

I was looking at main tank Cutjugyeora’s character window, and…

[Saex]

[Level 5][Title: Tower Entrant]

[Class: Barbarian Warlord]

[Strength: 13][Dexterity: 10][Endurance: 13][Magic: 10][Will: 10]

[Remaining Points: 6]

[Skills 6]

[Common Skills 4]

– Rest(2)

– Basic Smash(3)

– Basic Body Technique(3)

– Robust Physique(3) – Strength+3/Endurance+3

[Class Skills 2]

– Barbarian Sense(2)

– Barbarian War Cry(1)

…main melee DPS Saex’s character window. Unlike the typically unhelpful system, there was a feature that allowed you to view someone else’s character window if you were in the same party and they consented.

Since I originally knew their specs and main skills based on end-game standards, I needed to know their current specs as well, so they willingly showed me when I explained this.

I could see they were holding onto their spare ability points without investing them, probably wondering if fighting the undead had been truly challenging, and I noticed they had gained new skills and improved their proficiency overall.

‘If Cutjugyeora casts holy magic and maintains Holy Shield, she’ll be an iron wall against those creatures.’

Add my buffs to that, plus Saex’s War Cry that reduces enemy morale and stats…

‘We can be more aggressive with the second operation.’

It would be wasteful to hunt the same amount in the same way when our specs have improved.

I continued revising the plan without rest.

To catch both rabbits: safety and efficiency.

**

A few hours later.

“Seyeon 9!”

[Cutjugyeora casts ‘Holy Shield’.]

[Cutjugyeora’s defense against undead increases.]

[Cutjugyeora draws significant attention from undead.]

[A light aura forms around Cutjugyeora, dealing damage to undead every second.]

When giving orders, call signs should be concise as long as the listener understands. And we now know a new three-character call sign: real names.

If we drop the surname, we can shorten it to just two characters.

In that sense, both Cutjugyeora and Saex are too long.

“Yuri 3!”

“Come at me all of you!!!!!”

[Saex casts ‘Barbarian War Cry’.]

[Enemy attack speed decreases.]

[Enemy movement speed decreases.]

[Enemy accuracy decreases.]

After hearing the revised plan, both of them became a bit more ambitious. And they asked me.

If I were the (raid) leader, couldn’t I optimize this further?

Although I once played games just for the joy of optimization, I answered that this plan was already quite efficient.

But they showed confidence in themselves and trust in me.

I appreciated their trust, but it was troublesome.

With our specs, this was the maximum efficiency by my standards.

“Yuri! 4!”

“Got it, aaaagh!”

“Yuri!!”

“Seyeon stop!!! I’ll go!”

‘That’s assuming none of us get hurt, right?’

‘Leader. I’m a Holy Knight. I can heal minor injuries.’

‘Like the raid leader said, we should seize opportunities when they come. We might get screwed over on the next floor, so I want to level up more.’

Just 1-2 weeks ago, they were college girls who had never harmed anyone. Had they ever been cut by a real sword, not just a box cutter or kitchen knife? Of course, neither had I. But still.

Their arguments made sense. So I modified the plan again to be more aggressive.

Taking on a bit more risk in exchange for greater returns.

Since they were prepared to get injured, I tried to minimize that while maximizing efficiency.

But then.

When I saw blood flowing freely from Yuri’s thigh right before my eyes.

“It’s nothing! I can still—!”

“Switch! Potion!”

I almost lost my mind.

I almost told her to shut up, but I couldn’t.

So, as I always try to do, instead of saying something useless, I gave the optimal order. Saex bit her lip in frustration at my command but switched positions with me and applied emergency treatment, drinking some of the potion and pouring the rest on the wound.

In that brief moment, I also got injured. Not severely, but I was cut in several places.

“Raid leader!!!”

“Switch! And maintain formation!”

“Fuck!”

I switched places again with Saex, whose eyes had turned completely red. She had maintained an appropriate state until she got injured herself, but after seeing me wounded, she seemed to enter a state of complete excitement.

It appeared that the side effect of Saex’s class skill ‘Barbarian Sense’ manifested in that way in reality.

‘…She was prepared to get hurt herself, but not to see her comrades injured. Neither was I. Nor Ms. Seyeon. Nor Yuri.’

It’s not like we hadn’t been injured before. I couldn’t forget how Cutjugyeora and I had been beaten badly in the Knight’s Trial just recently.

But the feeling was different.

Back then, it felt more like I had merged with the character assigned to each trial rather than being completely myself. And although I had been injured, I was wearing proper armor, so I hadn’t suffered wounds where blood flowed so openly.

Even while rolling around in pain, I had overlooked this. It was something I hadn’t considered. A painful mistake.

Foolishly, I only realized it after seeing blood before my eyes.

That not only is it painful when I get hurt, but it’s also very painful to see a comrade injured.

‘It’s fortunate I realized this now. If this had happened on a higher floor, we might have reached a point of no return.’

So now one word came to mind:

Retreat.

I hesitated. This would be my first time retreating here, unlike in games. But the hesitation didn’t last long.

I had already determined that although we weren’t incapacitated, continuing the battle would bring no benefits, before I could fall into the swamp of indecision.

“Seyeon! Yuri! Retreat!”

“Not yet!”

“Retreat!! Seyeon! Clear a path with Shield Charge!”

“Leader!”

“Now!!!”

“…Yes!”

If Saex’s injury hadn’t been on her thigh, I might have assessed the situation a bit longer.

However, it seemed we had reached our target contribution (5% total), and since I had already decided to retreat, we would simply return to Albrant.

I grabbed Saex’s hand as she still hesitated, her head not fully cooled down, and followed Cutjugyeora who was clearing a path like a bulldozer.

‘When we get back, I need to have a serious talk with both of them about what happened today… and consider ways to solve this problem.’

Day 2 in Albrant.

I experienced my first failure in the tower and learned an important lesson.