You're Incredibly Competent
Today was the day we entered the Tower.
I was cramming several more pieces of bread into my stomach than usual.
Warning. User's satiety has reached critical threshold.
The AI kept spouting nonsense like that, but I ignored it.
Still, today's itinerary went all the way to the 30th floor. And nobody knew whether there'd be meal breaks along the way.
Eat when you can.
That was the essence of life I'd learned living as a beggar.
My thanks to Mr. Ratman, the forty-seven-year-old boss from back then.
"We'll grab extra meals on the 10th and 20th floors, so keep your stomach light."
That bastard Ratman.
"If you're done eating, move."
At the instructor's prodding, I shoved the last scrap of bread into my mouth.
At the Tower entrance, the twelve new recruits I'd seen yesterday were gathered, myself included.
Most of them wore tense expressions as they checked their gear or fidgeted with their staves.
Only Iris stood looking up at the massive entrance with the same face as always.
Yesterday she'd made some bizarre declaration of rivalry at me, and today she wasn't even speaking. Good. I hadn't particularly planned on asking what that contest was supposed to be about anyway.
"Before we depart, I'll go over the rules once more."
The instructor handed out round metal plaques one by one. Each was a little smaller than a palm, with the emblem of the White Magic Tower engraved in the center.
"These are Return Plaques. Inject mana into one and you'll be teleported to the entrance of the current floor. If you're seriously injured or separated from the group, don't hesitate to use it."
"Can we use them anytime?"
Someone asked, and the instructor shook his head.
"They don't function on the Gateway Floors at every tenth level. Check your condition before entering the 10th, 20th, and 30th floors."
Gateway Floors… like boss rooms? Or maybe special floors of some kind.
"We'll find the exit of each floor and move upward. The final destination for this expedition is the 30.5th floor beyond the 30th — the safe zone known as Airotia."
"Beyond the 30th would be the 31st, wouldn't it?"
I asked without thinking.
"Airotia isn't classified as an official floor of the Tower. Climbers just call it the 30.5th for convenience."
Like Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, then?
I wondered why they bothered sticking a decimal on a floor number, but apparently we'd all return from there together.
Anyway, that meant I'd be back at the cafeteria by this evening.
That was good enough for me.
"Moving out."
The instructor passed through the Tower entrance.
The new recruits followed in turn.
The inside of the Tower was far more spacious than it looked from outside.
Gray stone pillars stretched endlessly across the 1st floor, and the ceiling was hidden behind a hazy fog.
I'd heard that the Tower's interior was dozens of times larger than its exterior, or that each floor folded space independently somehow.
I didn't care about the details.
As long as I didn't get lost, that was enough.
We ran into the first monsters less than ten minutes after setting out.
Three horned rabbits burst from the brush beside the passage.
Calling them rabbits was generous — their front teeth were absurdly large, and the horns on their heads were long enough to punch clean through a person's gut.
> Mana signature detected 18 meters ahead.
The AI's message had barely appeared when—
"Fireball."
A ball of flame shot from Iris's staff.
Two horned rabbits, fur already ablaze, tumbled to the ground before they could take more than a few steps. The one that veered aside had its neck severed by a frost blade that followed right after.
Oh… she's fast.
On the next floor, a swarm of rats armored in hard shells appeared.
Iris scanned the narrow passage once, then spread cold across the floor. While the frozen-footed creatures thrashed, ice lances punched through their bodies one by one with perfect accuracy.
Higher up, cave goblins came pouring out. She hit the ones in front with mana bullets and snagged the ones hiding behind rocks with curving frost blades.
Knowing a lot of magic was impressive enough, but the way she picked the right spell for each situation on the fly was even more remarkable.
"Why do you just keep watching?"
Iris slowed her pace and asked.
"Pardon?"
"Wouldn't it be better if you did something?"
"You're handling everything yourself, Miss Iris."
"That's…"
"And you're using different magic for every monster, too."
I glanced back at the goblin corpses. Some had crushed skulls. Others had frozen necks.
"You're incredibly competent."
She was solving everything up front while I just stood there — how could anyone be more competent than that?
But Iris's brow twitched slightly.
"…Don't say it like that."
"Pardon?"
"Never mind."
Iris whipped her head away.
What's her problem?
Did "you're incredibly competent" sound a little sarcastic? Next time she asks, I should answer more carefully.
When we reached the 10th floor, the atmosphere shifted.
Dozens of goblins were gathered inside a vast cavern.
Ones with battered swords and spears packed the space in front of the exit, and further back I could see individuals with bows.
The instructor didn't step in right away. He seemed intent on watching how the new recruits would respond.
While everyone hesitated for a moment, Iris spoke up.
"Those of you with defensive magic, hold the front. Fire-types, target the cluster in the middle."
She checked the narrow paths on either side of the cavern.
"Use wind magic to push the scent outward. We don't want to draw in other packs."
The orders were brief.
But they were clear enough that everyone seemed to understand what they needed to do.
Shields went up almost immediately, and flame lances flew from behind them.
Fire erupted in the middle of the goblin horde, and the survivors scattered to either side.
As if she'd been waiting for exactly that, Iris swept her staff.
Six ice lances formed in midair and shot off in different directions.
The fleeing goblins dropped all at once, and the archer drawing a bow in the rear froze solid moments later.
The fight didn't last long.
"Quick judgment, Iris."
The instructor said as he cleared arrows from the floor.
"This much is basic."
Her tone was calm, but the corner of her mouth lifted just a fraction.
Iris turned to me immediately.
"Hmph. Well?"
"Wow. That was incredible."
"…?"
"You're so used to giving orders like that on the spot, too."
"…"
"If it were me, I probably would've just lobbed a Fireball into the middle and hoped for the best."
Assigning everyone a role had made the fight remarkably clean. Wasn't that exactly the kind of presence a commander needed?
"People who've actually been trained really are different. Amazing."
"Are you saying we didn't even need to combine our strength?"
"Pardon?"
"You're saying you could have finished it alone."
"No. That's not what I meant at all…"
"Forget it."
Iris turned away coldly.
What was the problem this time?
An ogre was waiting in front of the 20th floor exit.
"That's filthy huge."
I'd heard it was about four meters tall, but seeing one in person made the number feel like a massive understatement. It was like watching a dump truck stand up and stomp around.
"RRAAAAAAGH!!!!"
The ogre raised a club the size of a log.
"Scatter!"
Iris's voice rang through the cavern.
BOOM!
The club smashed into the floor.
While the recruits split to either side, Iris spread cold beneath the ogre's feet.
Thick ice locked around its ankles.
The moment the ogre forced a leg free, the other recruits' magic concentrated on its knee.
Flames and wind blades hammered the same spot in succession.
A frost blade drove into the opened wound.
THUD!
The ogre's leg buckled. As its massive body pitched forward, Iris leveled her staff.
SHUNK!
A single ice lance punched through the ogre's eye and out the back of its skull.
The cavern went quiet.
I'd been wondering whether I should help, but thankfully the fight ended while I was still deliberating.
Iris exhaled a cold breath and looked back at me. This time, she looked rather satisfied.
"That was incredible."
When I said it, she brushed her hair back.
"Anyone can do this much once they get used to it."
"No. That was genuinely amazing."
"…Which part, exactly?"
"You bound its legs first against something that big, then ordered everyone to keep attacking just one knee."
I looked at the fallen ogre. One of its legs was completely destroyed.
"And once it was down, you went for the eye."
"That's basic ogre-fighting tactics."
"If it were me, I wouldn't even know where to hit and I'd flail around for ages."
Iris stared at me in silence.
"Against a target that size?"
"Yes."
"You?"
"I haven't been learning magic for very long."
"…There you go again."
Iris turned her head away coldly once more.
"I'm serious, though."
I felt a little wronged.
Past the 21st floor, the recruits naturally began following Iris's directions.
Defensive mages held the front. Fire mages attacked from the rear.
When venom-spitting lizards appeared, wind mages pushed the air clear.
Iris moved through the middle of the formation, plugging every gap.
When the front line buckled, she raised ice walls. When monsters looped around from behind, she launched ice lances.
When someone was injured, she cleared a path so the healing mage could move.
"Exceptional awareness of the entire party."
At the instructor's praise, Iris bowed her head.
"Thank you."
Then she checked on me again.
I'd been carrying a sack of monster byproducts for everyone else since earlier — without casting a single Chogitan or Fireball.
More accurately, I never got the chance. And I didn't particularly want to, either.
"Ahh. This is comfortable."
A moment later, Iris came up beside me.
"You can hand that sack off to someone else now."
"I'm fine. It's manageable."
"You haven't used a single spell since this morning."
"I'm perfectly happy taking it easy. And with you handling everything, Miss Iris, is there any need for me to step in?"
Her footsteps stopped cold.
"…So that really was what you meant."
"Pardon? Meant what?"
"You intend to test my abilities to the very end. To see how far I can go."
"No. I'm genuinely just comfortable watching from the sidelines."
Iris glared at me.
"Don't brush it off with words like that."
"I'm serious."
She walked ahead without listening further.
"I mean it."
The more I talked, the deeper the misunderstanding seemed to get.
I still had no idea what I'd done wrong, but having Iris up front really was comfortable.
If she kept this up, I felt like I could follow her past the 30th floor all the way to the 50th.
Of course, the sack was getting steadily heavier, which was a problem.
> Fatigue levels in the left shoulder musculature are rising.
"Even if I ask for help, you're just going to say physical intervention isn't supported, right?"
> …
"I win."
Enjoying my own little amusement, I trailed along at the back of the formation.
By the time we cleared the 29th floor, I had no idea how long we'd been walking.
There were no windows inside the Tower, and the luminous stones set into the ceiling supposedly always shone at the same brightness.
Fortunately, the instructor said it was still before evening.
That was pretty important information. Missing dinner was not an option.
The 30th floor portal sat inside a massive stone gate. A membrane that rippled like a black water surface filled the entire doorway.
"From the 30th floor onward, the terrain shifts dramatically."
The instructor looked over the recruits.
"Once you pass through the portal, do not move without my orders. Return Plaques cannot be used on the 30th floor."
The recruits entered the black membrane one by one.
Iris paused in front of the portal and looked back at me.
Her eyes were different from this morning.
It was the look of someone who no longer intended to back down in front of me.
Not that I had any idea why she was acting like this in the first place.
"Are you planning to just watch on the 30th floor as well?"
"Yeah, well. If possible."
"…Fine."
Iris gripped her staff tightly.
"I'll take care of things first this time, too."
"I'd appreciate that."
At my answer, her gaze grew even sharper.
Then my turn came. The moment I was about to step forward—
> Irregular spatial vibrations detected within the 30th floor.
"Huh? Is that dangerous?"
> Risk level cannot be calculated from current sample data alone.
I looked back and forth between the portal and the instructor.
Is this… actually fine?
Let me think about it.
Everyone else went through without a problem. And the instructor's face didn't show any sign that he'd noticed anything off.
Hmm… they did say the 30th floor's terrain shifts frequently, so this level of vibration might be a common occurrence.
If I brought up something vague and started a whole debate right at the entrance, that would be a hassle.
We needed to reach Airotia today if we wanted dinner.
"AI. Keep monitoring."
Still, preparing for a potential threat couldn't hurt.
> Continuing analysis.
I stepped into the portal.
The black membrane swallowed my body.
Spatial vibrations intensifying.