Volume 24 Chapter (7-Side Story 1)

Chapter 7, A look at Collete and Floria

Collete was thinking.

First, Peach succeeded in manifesting the power of Kousuke's Blessing.

This power was the power of observation.

Or more like it manifested as the power of dreaming, or the power to see something through a dream.

When it was fully activated, she thought that was a very Peach-like reaction for her to go to see Kousuke.

It also appeared that she had been dreaming several times since then, using the power of the Blessings.

It could be said that such growth was steady progress in itself.

Next up was Shrein.

Shrein also seemed to use her power differently than Peach.

Like Collete and Lirica, she did not directly manifest the power of the Blessing, but seemed to have succeeded in enhancing her own power through the Blessing's power.

Shrein only said that she "seemed" to have been using it, because she was uncertain of what it was.

It did involve a ritual where Kousuke's Blessing power was used as a medium, so in that sense, it could be said that she made good use of the power of the Blessing.

However, whether she would be able to use the power of the Blessing on her own in the future was still unknown.

Even so, they successfully achieved their original goal of becoming a higher species.

As for the power of the Blessing, Kousuke said that there was no need to be in a hurry and that he would take his time in the future to assess the power of the Blessing.

Collete would be lying if she said that she was not impatient with the fact that two of the members on the Administration Floor had already started to use the Blessing.

However, it was also true that they were not in a rivalry with each other.

Besides, even if they were to manifest the power of the Blessing first, Kousuke would still not yet return.

For Collete, there was really no reason for her to rush, trying to manifest the power of the Blessing so that Kousuke would come back as soon as possible.

As a long-lived elf, Collete was in no rush to have a child.

Or, to be more accurate, everyone stopped being in a rush to have children.

Before, there was impatience because there was no clear path to having children.

Today, however, two people have already found the path, and one of them has fulfilled the conditions.

Collete, too, had a part of her that hoped she could reach that point, even if it would take a while.

When she mentioned this to Esena, she said it was a particular drawback of the elven species.

Children took a long time to be born, as before, but it was no longer a problem.

This, in turn, had the potential to create a sense of security among the elves once again.

She also said that Collete, who could become the catalyst for elves to have children, could not continue in such a manner.

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"The power of the Blessing…"

Collete, realizing that her thoughts were diverted, decided to think about the power of the Blessing again.

Esena appeared at Collete's side, as if her voice had leaked out at that moment.

"…How's it going?"

Now Collete was beneath the World Tree.

When she thought earlier about what the power of Blessing might be for Collete, she immediately thought of the power to see spirits.

The elves did not really know what it meant to see spirits.

The power to use spirits was something that only some people could do.

It may be that each one of them possessed the power to use spirits, but if that was the case, there was no need for them to see them.

It was said that long ago the elves were able to see the spirits, but now that notion had become much closer to a legend.

Still, when Collete became a priestess of Esena, her ability to sense the spirits was increased.

Among the elves living around the World Tree, Collete would be the strongest, except for the three high elves.

But even so, she had not yet reached the point where she could see the spirits completely.

She did not know what it was like to "see" the spirits.

That was why she was thinking about the power of Blessing beneath the World Tree, where many spirits were gathered.

"Hmmm. I guess I'd say better than before, but… I'm uncertain if I will be able to see."

"Is that so…"

Esena nodded at Collete's answer without changing her expression.

Since Esena was a fairy of the World Tree, her sense of time was different from that of others, even more so than Collete's.

For Esena, trying to be able to see spirits was something she could not understand because they were everywhere, and she was able to see them from the very beginning.

When she asked Dolly, who used to be a fairy of the World Tree, the answer was the same.

While speaking with Esena about that, Collete suddenly thought about Peach's case.

In her case, how did she manifest the power of the Blessing?

Thinking about it, the race characteristics were only discovered after Peach developed her powers, and they came later.

That said, it was also hard to believe that it was a sudden development.

The same would be true for Lirica.

The tower administration was also aware of Lirica's situation.

"Maybe I'm getting a little too ahead of myself."

Perhaps it would be better to be aware of the power of the Blessing before talking about the characteristics of the race.

Collete reconsidered.

The power of the Blessing was, in essence, Kousuke's power.

If that was the case, Collete thought that it would be better to think about Kousuke from the start alongside how he would usually use his powers, which was somewhat outrageous.

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Just as Collete was caught in a whirlpool of thoughts beneath the World Tree, Floria was visiting Sylvia.

"Excuse me, can I have a word?"

"Oh, hello. Is something wrong?"

"Nope. I've never trained as a priestess before. I just want you to make sure I'm not doing it wrong."

It was common for children of certain noble families to enter temples for a certain period of time to train under the guidance of Goddesses.

But Floria, who was born to a royal family, unfortunately did not have the opportunity to do so.

"So that's what this is about. That's fine then."

Sylvia agreed once, but continued.

"However, it is not always possible to manifest the power of the Blessing even if you do everything on the spot, you know?"

Sylvia, who was a top-notch priestess, said so, so there was no doubt about it.

"Yes, I know. But I want to at least be aware of the power of Goddesses, you know? If I do it the wrong way, it won't do me any good. It doesn't have to be the formal way."

"Okay, I understand."

Sylvia nodded, knowing what Floria meant.

Floria must have also remembered Lirica's story.

In the first place, Lirica who was able to use the power of the Blessing naturally must have excelled in sensing Kousuke's power as a God.

If that was the case, it was strange that Sylvia did not manifest it first, but that was a different matter, so Sylvia did not dare to mention it at this time.

Besides, Floria's way of thinking itself was not wrong.

Floria began to calm her spirit on the spot.

Sylvia was surprised to see how she did it.

It was so brilliant that it was hard to believe that she had never trained as a priestess.

Although the way she did it was different from Sylvia's, the training as a priestess was, in essence, to connect with the divine.

It was even said that even in the Church, there were different ways of training in different temples.

In light of this, Floria's method was perfectly acceptable.

After all, Floria had received the Blessing of the Goddess Spica without having to train as a priestess.

She even received oracles, so it was not surprising that she was able to do these things in the first place.

One more thing.

From what Sylvia saw, Floria also seemed to be on the verge of developing the power of the Blessing.

It would not be surprising if she would manifest it at some point.

It could be said that things were going extremely well for her.

When Sylvia told her this after Floria opened her eyes, she looked happy.

"I see. That's good… But can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Do you think it's strange that Sylvia hasn't manifested the power of the Blessing when she can understand such things about other people?"

When Floria tilted her head curiously, Sylvia smiled.

"No, I don't. It's a common thing to be able to see others but not yourself."

While watching Sylvia say this with a laugh, Floria suspected something, but didn't say it out loud.

"I see… I'll leave it at that."

"Please do so."

Thus, Floria learned of Sylvia's little secret, a secret that would be kept until everyone was able to manifest the power of the Blessings.

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Chapter 8, Kousuke's Hard Work?

Although Kousuke was being an adventurer away from the Administration Floor, he did not leave the manifestation of his power to the members alone.

He was able to understand a certain amount of what was going on with the people he had given blessings to.

Naturally, he knew what was going on not only with Lirica, Peach, and Shrein, who had already manifested their powers, but also with the other members to some extent.

He understood that this was also because the power of the Blessing had been manifested or was about to be manifested.

Kousuke was able to detect Peach's dreams and returned to the Administration Floor because of this situation.

In a sense, Kousuke could relax and enjoy his activities as an adventurer because he knew what was going on while he was away from home.

Kousuke, however, was also testing his own strength.

Currently, Kousuke and his group were working together with Lirica's Party members.

The reason they were doing this was because Sally, the leader of Lirica's Party, asked them to do so.

If it turned out ok, one party would be able to take down an enemy, but since new members had recently joined the party, Sally felt uneasy about it, so she asked Kousuke if they could go with her.

At first, she approached Cecil and Arisa, but they turned her down the first time, saying that Kousuke was with them at the moment.

However, they mentioned that if Kousuke agreed to join they would be fine with it, so Kousuke was approached as well.

Kousuke also wanted to work with Lirica, so it was a good opportunity for them.

Kousuke suddenly had an insight and asked Lirica, who was standing next to him.

"The Brown Bear we're going to defeat has a weak spot in its chest, right?"

"Ah, yes, that's right."

Not only Brown Bear, but most monsters that resembled animals have a weak spot where the heart was located, which was usually in a fixed position.

For the Brown Bear, the heart was located in the chest.

"Hmm. I see."

"Did you come up with something?"

Arisa, who had been listening to the conversation, asked Kousuke.

As he had done before, Kousuke was testing something when he was fighting.

She guessed that this was one of those times, so she asked.

"Yeah. Well, I got the inspiration when I saw Lirica."

"Wait, me?"

"Yes. Well, you'll have to wait and see what it's all about when we get there."

Kousuke smiled as he said this.

He had a certain amount of confidence in this experiment.

However, the experiment would require Nana's cooperation.

Kousuke told the group, who were all tilting their heads, that they would have to wait until they arrived at the site to find out what the experiment would be.

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First, Lirica and her party decided to hunt a Brown Bear.

Kousuke and his team were on standby in case Lirica's party had any problems.

At first, their coordination was still a bit awkward, but in the time from finding and hunting the first Brown Bear and the last one, they seemed to have improved a lot.

On the contrary, it was like they were showing him how great they were at working together.

"Well, it was a great result, I suppose. That's what coordination is supposed to be like."

"Yes, that's true."

Cecil and Arisa nodded in agreement.

The general pattern of their party's battle, including Kousuke's, was basically to use spirit magic (or fairies) to defeat the monsters while Familiars and front liners held the monsters at bay.

In a way, it could be considered as coordination, but since it only took a moment to settle the battle, it could not be called coordination in a real sense, as they had witnessed from watching Sally and her team's battle.

"I'm flattered by the praise, but what do you guys usually do?"

Sally, who had just finished defeating the enemy, asked Kousuke and the others, as she overheard the conversation.

Kousuke had nothing to hide, so he told her exactly what he just mentioned.

"That's just… should I say that I envy them, or that I find it dangerous?"

It seemed that when it came to someone as good as Sally, Kousuke and his team's fighting style was dangerous.

"Is that so?"

"Well, I can't say anything until you show me what it looks like."

The impression one gets from hearing about it and actually seeing it varied greatly.

For this reason, Sally also avoided giving a proper evaluation.

She thought that since it was Kousuke and the others' turn next, she would be able to give a proper evaluation.

"…"

Sally, who had witnessed the battle with Kousuke and the others, had her mouth wide open.

Not only Sally, but all party members, including Lirica, had similar expressions on their faces.

"What can I say… Can I correct my earlier assessment?"

"Uh, well, what do you think of it?"

"I don't think you even need to work together as long as you're fighting monsters on this Floor!"

Sally said, pointing to the Brown Bear that had been easily defeated before her eyes.

Hearing Sally's words, the party members nodded vigorously.

They had not thought that spirit magic was this powerful.

It seemed impossible to witness someone beating a brown bear with a single blow by using spirit magic.

Of course, there was a misunderstanding in this.

It was not that spirit magic alone was powerful, but that Cecil and Arisa, who were using it, were strong.

However, those two didn't consider themselves that strong either, since Collete was even better than them as a spirit user.

Kousuke was even above that, but since both Cecil and Arisa knew only Collete as a spirit user, they did not consider themselves as strong.

Incidentally, Kousuke did not call for fairies in the current battle.

Kousuke wondered what would happen if he called out fairies.

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After successfully defeating the requested number of targets, the next step was for everyone to accompany Kousuke's experiment.

Sally and her party had no problems, so he told them they could go home, but Sally was interested in Kousuke's experiments.

Kousuke, who had no intention of hiding anything, allowed Sally to observe the experiment.

Now, a Brown Bear and Nana were facing each other in front of their eyes.

Incidentally, Nana had not left Kousuke's side during the previous battle, so this was her first demonstration.

It was an unbelievable sight to see a Brown Bear stuck staring at a lone wolf, but Kousuke's next instruction was also unbelievable.

"For now, Nana, try lunging at its chest area."

As Kousuke said this, Nana disappeared from the scene.

The next moment, there was a collapsed Brown Bear and Nana wagging her tail happily by his side.

"Hmmm…Nana is too strong for me to understand the effect."

It was no wonder that everyone except Cecil and Arisa, who saw the scene, exclaimed in their hearts that they were not only too strong, but that the enemies around the floor were too weak for them.

Sally asked Cecil and Arisa as she glanced at Kousuke, who was quickly giving Nana the next instruction.

"Hey, what's that!"

"What can I say… It's a wolf Familiar, right?"

Cecil tilted her head in wonder.

They did not mention the word "God" in their answer.

Giving them unnecessary information would only cause trouble for Sally and the others.

Lirica was the only one with a subtle expression on her face.

Even if she did not know that Nana was a kind of divine beast, she could still somehow understand what she was.

"Ah, that… It's not just a wolf, is it?"

"That's because, well, a mere wolf couldn't have done that. In that sense, our Familiar is a little special, as well, you see?"

Cecil spoke in a way that subtly shifted interest from Nana, but Sally didn't notice and looked at the wolf and fox at Cecil's feet.

Thinking about it, a Familiar who could keep a Brown Bear at bay was unusual.

Sally finally realized this when Cecil told her so.

Sally sighed inwardly, thinking that her intuition was becoming unreliable.

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Chapter 9, Floria's Awakening

What Kousuke was trying to do with Nana's help was to see if he could "see" the enemy's weak points.

As it turned out, Nana's attack was so strong that we could not see which of them was responsible for the defeat.

Kousuke thought about using the wolves that Cecil and Arisa had with them to check, but decided to do that later.

Currently, they were with Sally's party.

Kousuke was sure they would allow him to stay longer if he told them, but he decided against it.

Above all, there was no need to go to the trouble of showing off in the presence of another party.

"Well, I'm done. I didn't need to extend the experiment. I could not confirm anything after all."

Kousuke said as he returned to Sally.

"What's that? What were you checking?"

"Well, I wanted to see if I could take out a Brown Bear with one blow if I attacked its weak point…but as have witnessed"

Kousuke looked at Nana, and she glanced at him.

Seeing this, Sally also chuckled.

"Oh. So, you're saying that this girl's power is too strong for you to understand."

"That's about it. Now that I know I can't confirm it here, we better go back."

Kousuke's statement that he was going back had a basis, of course.

There was no way Kousuke was going to keep an eye out for himself without a tent if he was going to make this his hunting ground instead of going back right away.

Sally was a good leader when it came to noticing such subtleties.

"Alright. Hey, you guys had enough rest. We're heading back to the city!"

""Yes!""

Sally called out, and her party members responded.

The newcomers were in good shape, and there seemed to be no problems of concern.

After that, the party eventually made their way back to town and separated from Sally and the others while clearing out the monsters that attacked them on the move.

Kousuke, on the other hand, forgot about the experiment and spent a few days relaxing at an inn.

He felt that the members of the Administration group were beginning to utilize the power of their Blessings.

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Floria came with Haku to the Southwest Tower.

She brought Haku with her to serve as an escort.

She usually came to check on the Tower, but this time she had other purposes as well.

In order to confirm that purpose, they had come to the Floor where the goblins were.

"What is there to check?"

Haku asked Floria as they made their way to where the goblins' base was located.

"Oh. I just wanted to try something."

"Hmm?"

Haku tilted his head at Floria's muddled way of speaking, but nodded along nonetheless.

Since it was certain that they were planning to do something again later at the goblins' place, they decided to confirm it again at that time.

It was not a great distance from the location of the transfer gate to the base where the goblins were, so they soon arrived at their destination.

Then, some goblins noticed Floria and approached her.

As with the other Towers, only Kousuke was recognized as the current keeper of the Tower.

Therefore, the summoned goblins also have the title of "Kousuke's Dependent", but they didn't attack her, as if they understood that Floria was in fact in charge of the administration.

That was because Floria was the one who summoned them from a summoning circle in the first place, which meant that she was the first one they saw when they came out into this world.

Not that there was any imprinting phenomenon going on, but they probably thought of her as something similar to their parents.

The situation with the other members managing the Towers were similar.

What Floria was trying to do when she came to them was, of course, to confirm the power of the Blessing.

While checking Kousuke's Blessing with Sylvia, an idea came to her mind.

It may be more correct to say that it was an intuition rather than an idea.

She came here following that intuition.

After Floria and Haku stayed there for a while, with the rest of the goblins at the base, they gathered around.

The others were probably out hunting.

Some of them had evolved into Ogre-kin, a term used to describe a goblin who had evolved into an ogre.

When they evolved to Ogre-kin, they seemed to be able to understand human language to some extent, and they could follow Floria's instructions.

When the Ogre-kin were given those instructions, the Ogre-kin uttered muffled words and gave instructions to the goblins.

Then, just as Floria had directed, one Ogre-kin and four other ordinary goblins remained on the spot.

The Ogre-kin looked at Floria for confirmation, and she nodded once to let them know it was okay.

Floria closed her eyes once and focused her mind.

Normally, she would have to be able to do this without needing to do things like this, but as she was still inexperienced, this was the only way she could do it.

After concentrating and sensing Kousuke's power within her, Floria opened her eyes and released the power she sensed in the next instant.

Then, the goblins in front of her fell to their knees all at once.

Seeing this, Floria was convinced that she had successfully manifested the power of the Blessing.

She immediately released her power and apologized to the goblins.

"Sorry. I just wanted to try it out."

They sensed the power that Floria had just released.

And that power belonged to Kousuke.

That was why they fell to their knees.

They must have been confused because they sensed the power of Kousuke, who was not supposed to be there.

When Floria released her power, there was a distinct sense of relief in the air.

"That's wonderful. Was that Father's power?"

"Yes, it is."

Floria hadn't said anything yet, but Haku seemed to immediately understand what the power she had just released was.

"Was it the manifestation of Father's Power himself, I mean?"

"Great. You can tell."

With just that one detail, Haku apparently saw through the essence of the power.

Floria nodded quickly, as she had no intention of hiding it either.

"Yes, that's right. If I release the power of Blessing itself as it is, I probably won't be able to endure it."

"Is that so?"

"Well. After all, I am still lacking in training."

But at least now Floria was sure that she too could release the power of the Blessing.

All that remained was to return to the Administration Floor and let her friends experience it.

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Returning to the Administration Floor, Floria immediately did the same thing she had done to the goblins in front of everyone.

Release the power of the Blessing.

That was all she did, but soon the members seemed to understand what Floria had done.

"I see. It's like 'The Intimidation of a Champion', right?"

"That's a good way to put it."

"No, wait. Isn't that a bit over the top?"

Floria interrupted Shrein and Sylvia's comment as if flustered.

Certainly, if she could develop this power, she would be able to suppress monsters.

But for now, she could barely keep the low-ranked monsters at bay.

She was convinced of this when she checked on the goblins she had observed earlier.

Above all, it would be impossible to use it in a real battle if she had to close her eyes every once in a while to use it.

"But it's going to become like that eventually, so I think it's okay to call it that from the start, don't you think so?"

When Collete said so, Shrein and Sylvia nodded.

Kouhi, who was casually listening by her side, also nodded.

Incidentally, Mitsuki was preparing a meal.

After this, Mitsuki joined in, and while Floria was the only one who objected, everyone else unanimously agreed that the name of Floria's Blessing power was <Intimidation of a Champion>.

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Chapter 10, Return

The women were excited by the manifestation of Floria's Blessing, but there was about one person among them who seemed to have difficulty talking about it.

It was Collete.

While the others were congratulating Floria, she was looking at Sylvia as if she were concerned about something.

Sylvia looked at Collete, as if she sensed her gaze.

Then, suddenly, she smiled and nodded.

"Oh. Did you see through that?"

"I could sense it before Floria arrived here."

Collete said in an annoyed tone, to which Sylvia quickly responded.

Collete and Sylvia had known each other since before they met Kousuke.

Since they had been friends for a long time, they were able to read each other's expressions.

In addition, since coming to the Administration Floor, Sylvia's power as a priestess had steadily increased.

As a result of all of this, she could figure out what Collete wasn't telling her.

"What is it? The two of them seem to be the only ones who understand each other's feelings."

Peach, who had been watching them, interrupted.

"No, I was going to tell everyone when they were all here, but Floria beat me to it."

When Collete said this, everyone knew what she was going to say.

"That means, Collete, you too?"

"Yes, the power of the Blessing has manifested."

Collete had been struggling beneath the World Tree, but once she reset her mind and simply searched for Kousuke's power, she was able to manifest it successfully.

Collete's power of Blessing was, as expected, the ability to see spirits.

"So, it was expected, huh?"

Collete nodded to Shrein, who came to confirm.

"I can see them. I didn't think there was anything natural on the Administration Floor, but there were many spirits. Well, I don't think I can see all of them."

To add more to that notion, she was told that they were not always visible.

She would need to concentrate to see.

She thought that she would have to be trained to be able to see them all the time.

Like the other members, there was still a lot of room for development.

"Now all that's left is Sylvia…"

Shrein said on behalf of the others, looking at Sylvia.

She looked somewhat apologetic, given the circumstances.

The surrounding members were in a similar situation.

Except for Sylvia and Floria, who were the ones involved.

"Since that's the case, shouldn't Sylvia say something too?"

"Yes, that's right."

Sylvia nodded to Floria who urged her to do so.

"Actually, I have already manifested the power of the Blessing," Sylvia said.

When Sylvia said this, everyone's faces broke into tears.

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Sylvia succeeded in manifesting the power of Blessing some time after completing the Divine Oracle with God Elisa Meir.

In terms of time, it was soon after Shrein's evolution.

After completing the Divine Oracle with Elisa Meir, Sylvia once again reconsidered her position, but eventually, she thought about the power of the Blessing from the standpoint of Kousuke's priestess.

In this way, she was able to clarify what the power of Blessing was that she should be aiming for.

Furthermore, Kousuke's words when he came back to there helped her get rid of the impatience.

After that, Sylvia incorporated her training as a priestess, which she was accustomed to, so the work was easy to get used to.

As a result, she was able to manifest the power of the Blessing in little time.

"So? What was Sylvia's power?"

Shrein cut in.

So far, everyone successfully manifested their powers in different ways.

The question was assuming that Sylvia also manifested a different kind of power.

To which Sylvia's response was.

"In my case, unlike everyone else, it is not something unusual."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I am Kousuke-sama's priestess. I can see the status of things."

In short, it was a weakened version of the power of Kousuke's left eye.

It was said that the role of a priestess was to bring the deity itself or a part of the deity's power into this world.

Naturally, one of the roles of the clergy was to receive oracles and convey the word of those oracles to the world.

In light of this, it was only natural that Sylvia, as a priestess, would inherit Kousuke's power as a God.

"In my case now, I can only see the most that I could see were skills that I have witnessed."

"I see."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Sylvia's explanation.

As for the power thing, Sylvia's acquisition of this Blessing felt very natural to her.

She was undoubtedly "Kousuke's Priestess", she thought.

Everyone knew that Kousuke himself had not mastered the power of his left eye.

What Sylvia could see was even less than what Kousuke could see.

In addition, it was even less than the God Tool that Kousuke created.

Still, being able to see the status of others without tools would be a threat to those who want to hide it.

After all, all Blessing's power would be a power that people would desire.

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"Now that we've all activated the power of the Blessing… Will they come back?"

Shrein asked after confirming everyone's power.

Everyone looked at each other as she mentioned this with a wry smile.

"Well… I doubt that they would not come back until everyone had evolved."

"After all, they seem to be enjoying their adventuring activities."

"I don't think they will be back for a while~."

The words that followed were a perfect guess as to Kousuke's current state of mind.

It was not that he did not want to come back.

It was more that he wanted to do what he wanted to do while he was active as an adventurer.

But the girls on the Administration Floor didn't know that.

"I think he knows that everyone can manifest the power of the Blessing, so I'm sure he will come back at least once soon."

Everyone nodded in agreement to Sylvia's words.

Except for about two people.

"So, why don't you come out soon, Master?"

"I'm sure you can understand that somehow everyone is getting excited, and it's getting harder to come out, right?"

Kouhi and Mitsuki, who had known from the beginning that Kousuke was returning, said this to Kousuke.

With those words, everyone's eyes turned in that direction.

Kousuke was standing in that direction, with an expression of displeasure on his face.

In fact, he came back when he found out that all the members had been able to manifest the power of the Blessing.

He returned to the Administration Floor and tried to show up right away, but the ladies had started some sort of debriefing session, which made it difficult for him to show his face.

Kouhi and Mitsuki seemed to have noticed it right away, but they read the air and kept quiet until now.

""Kousuke-san! Kousuke-sama!", they shouted together.

"Oh, um… I'm home? And congratulations."

When Kousuke, who looked somewhat embarrassed, said that, everyone's expressions suddenly brightened up.

Everyone understood that, despite what they say, it was only because Kousuke was there that they could tell jokes.

Of course, Kousuke knew this as well, so he rarely said anything in particular.

Now that everyone had successfully invoked the power of Blessing, the biggest concern of the moment was gone.

To be precise, their objective would not be fulfilled until they evolve, but some of them would say that it did not have to be right now, as in the case of Collete.

It was up to the girls themselves to decide what they wanted to do, so there was no longer any need for Kousuke to stay away from the Administration Floor.

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Sidestory 1, Trade Quantity

King Balm Edria Column was at a loss for words in his office.

Normally, he would be busy sorting out paperwork, but he sometimes found time to ponder in this way.

There were many things that bothered the king's mind, but the issue of the Central Continent was the one that occupied the most of his time at the moment.

A problem of the Column Kingdom, which the King had meddled with in the past, did not seem to be a problem for him at the moment.

However, it would not be surprising if they were to come out again anytime soon.

After all, the previous fleet sent out by his own country was the only one that had so far taken military action on the Central Continent.

Balm had expected other countries to start messing with them anytime soon, but the surprising offensive power of Amamiya Tower had put a stop to that.

Some of the countries claimed that it was just a rumor, but Balm could not find any that had actually gone so far as to act.

Some time ago, there seemed to be a pirate disturbance in the northern part of the Central Continent, but that too had now subsided.

There was some talk of some state being involved behind the scenes in the Column Kingdom, which was positioned far away, but eventually, it did not seem to be having much of an effect.

Balm was hoping that the state behind the situation would get impatient and take direct action, but things never work out that way.

As for Amamiya Tower, it was already in the process of becoming a nation.

However, it still lacked a military force, as a nation should have one.

After all, there had never been a nation on that continent before.

It was a unique continent, but it was a well-known fact that the situation had changed drastically after the Tower was conquered.

The existence of the Transfer Gate had a major impact on the continent.

There were towers on the western continent, where the Column Kingdom was located, as a matter of course, and some of them had already been conquered.

However, for some reason, there was no such thing as a transition gate.

Or they could have been hiding their existence in case something went wrong.

The method that allows one to move to a safe zone in the Tower instantly could be treated by the royal family as a hidden passageway that should be kept secret.

If Balm owned the Tower and had a transfer gate, it would not be surprising if he treated it as such.

Or perhaps the Tower itself did not have a transfer gate.

After all, the country that controlled a Tower changed its ownership several times since it was attacked in the past, so it may be that the ownership of the Tower was not changed successfully at that time.

This would be a greater possibility.

There was no way to properly hand over such an important asset as the Tower to a hostile nation.

Since Balm did not know what the Tower system was like, he could only speculate.

After thinking that far, Balm decided that it was no use thinking about something that did not exist, and he returned his thoughts to where they had left off.

What he should be thinking about now was how to deal with Amamiya Tower as the Column Kingdom.

Currently, the hardliners had not said that they would send out the army again.

However, it would not be surprising if such voices eventually emerged once more.

At that time, they needed to have something that could silence the hardliners.

Balm did not intend to send out the navy because he was not willing to cross a dangerous bridge.

However, it was also true that if their voices became louder, he could not ignore them.

King Balm was thinking about this when his gaze fell on a document.

It was one of the reports he was about to process.

And it was about Crown.

King Balm started looking over the document as if it were an opportunity.

Soon, his face broke into a smile.

If the report was correct, there was a possibility that the hardliners could be silenced.

He really needed to hear the details.

He immediately decided to call the heavyweight involved in the document.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

The person in charge who was called to Balm was from the department concerned with taxation.

The report was that tax revenues from the merchant guilds associated with the Crown were increasing.

In absolute terms, this was not a huge amount.

However, in terms of the growth rate, it was larger than that of any other merchant guild.

Of course, this increase was not limited to the merchant guilds.

The craft guilds that process goods imported from Crown were also in a similar situation.

"This report is for last month, what about before that?"

"Ha, haha. The situation became more noticeable last month, not so much before that. But this month, the number is likely to increase."

Balm nodded his head at the representative's report.

"Why are these vendors growing?"

"Well…"

"That's fine. Just tell us what you think."

Balm saw that the person in charge was stuttering, and, sensing this, urged him to continue.

"Perhaps, it is because the quality of the material from Crown is good."

With that one word, he understood what the person in charge was trying to say.

"…Is it really that good?"

"From what I've learned, crafts, industrial goods, and luxury goods are all excellent. The exports are growing domestically, but above all, exports to the rest of the world are developing as well."

In the Kingdom of Balm, products produced from Amamiya Tower were purchased in their raw material form and then processed.

Since they originally imported materials from the Central Continent, they had the groundwork for such technology.

The materials from the Central Continent were renowned for their high quality.

The materials produced in Tower were equal to or even better than those in the Central Continent.

The guilds involved in such business were increasing their sales because they could sell such materials at a higher price when they sold them outside of Japan.

The result was increased tax revenues.

"Is it possible that Crown is intentionally increasing exports to our country?"

His intention in asking that question was because he suspected that because of the previous fiasco, they were strengthening their commercial ties.

"I can't get an accurate picture of the situation in other countries, but I'm afraid that's probably not the case. It simply seems that the production of resources from Amamiya Tower is increasing."

The increase in the number of adventurers or those engaged in similar work in the Tower resulted in an increase in the production of resources.

Naturally, this would increase the number of resources that could be exported to the outside world.

As a result, the number of materials coming into the Column Kingdom increased, and the sales of the guilds involved increased.

The question was how long this growth would continue.

Even in the Tower, resources were never going to be unlimited.

Or there may not be enough adventurers to harvest them.

The growth would always come to a halt somewhere.

It would not be something that could be predicted.

They may be able to make some assumptions, but they remain only as predictions, not absolutes.

But be that as it may, this situation will be of use to the country.

After all, tax revenues have been growing.

If they made a bad move, they might lose those tax revenues.

This could be used as an ingredient to silence the hardliners.

But some of them might say that they should go on the offensive for that reason.

There would not be that many who would be that short-sighted.

In the short run, the increase in tax revenues from materials coming from the Central Continent would be a good thing for the Column Kingdom.

However, eventually or when a country centering on the Tower was established on the Central Continent, whether this would be a good thing or not remained to be seen.

Balm kept in mind that this was still an unknown factor.