In the training grounds of the Amamiya Tower Management Layer, intense training sessions were underway.
The ones training were the members of “Flame Wolf,” excluding Riku, and the duo of Floria and Silvia.
“Wow, that’s amazing. You’re holding your own against Floria and Silvia!”
Kousuke exclaimed, watching the mock battle. Riku, standing next to him, slumped his shoulders.
“……Father. We’re supposed to be a top-class team, you know…? And it’s two against five, with one of them focused on defense.”
“I suppose that’s true, but… did you perhaps come here with the intention of winning this time?”
Kousuke said, his face taking on a look of sudden inspiration as he looked at Riku, whose expression had become rather subtle.
Riku didn’t show any change in his expression to Kousuke’s jab, but for some reason, Kousuke looked convinced.
“I see, I see. So that’s how it is. If that’s the case, I have an idea too.”
“Wait a minute. What kind of idea?”
As Riku spoke, his lips twitching, Kousuke replied with a grin.
“Well, since it’s an opportunity, I was thinking of having one of the fairies participate.”
“Wait, no, please wait. That won’t be training.”
Riku pleaded, bowing his head as if to prostrate himself, to Kousuke, who spoke with a stern face.
If Kousuke were to summon even one fairy he could call, it would no longer be training, just as Riku had said.
As Kousuke pondered what to do while watching Riku bow his head before him, Peach’s voice was heard near his ears.
“If that’s the case, shall I switch with Silvia~?”
“Oh, Peach. Are you sure?”
Peach nodded in response to Kousuke’s question.
“Of course~. I need to get some exercise in occasionally to avoid getting rusty.”
“Alright. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
While Riku looked up with a bewildered expression, Kousuke and Peach quickly finalized their arrangement.
Riku looked up at the ceiling in despair, realizing this was what it meant to be unable to stop something.
Seeing Riku’s state, Peach spoke in her usual tone.
“It’s alright~. I’ll make sure it’s proper training.”
Peach said so casually, but she had the skill to make such adjustments.
That was precisely why Riku wanted to stop her, but he knew it was impossible, as both Peach and Kousuke were already motivated.
At this point, Riku let out a deep sigh inwardly, thinking that winning today was probably impossible.
***
After Silvia and Peach switched, the match continued as Riku had predicted, a one-sided affair.
Of course, as Peach had said, they knew it was training, so “Flame Wolf” wasn’t completely unable to attack, but none of their attacks landed effectively.
They were that overwhelmed by Peach, who moved all over the place.
“…There’s no way that’s not a foul…”
Kousuke lightly patted Riku’s back as he was about to touch the ground.
“Well, consider it bad luck that Peach got motivated, and just give up.”
“You’re not going to offer even a little bit of comfort?!”
“Of course not. Why should I have to comfort my grown son?”
Kousuke implied that Riku was looking for comfort from the wrong person, and Riku’s expression became complicated.
Regardless of the reason, when he imagined himself being comforted by his own father, such an expression naturally appeared on his face.
Sylvia chuckled playfully at Riku, her face taking on a teasing look.
“Isn’t that fine, though? It’s what he wants.”
“…Please spare me.”
As the earnest Riku bowed his head, Silvia laughed even more deeply.
Kousuke, who had been talking about such trivial matters, suddenly looked at Riku as if he had remembered something.
“By the way, for the past few years, adventurers haven’t been entering the dungeon floors. Do you know why?”
“No, there’s no reason other than that you can’t earn money.”
Kousuke shrugged with an “Ah” in response to Riku’s simple answer.
Currently, the dungeon floors accessible to adventurers are the 51st to 60th floors for low/middle ranks, and the 61st to 70th floors for middle/high ranks.
While there are still adventurers relatively active in the former, the latter, from the 61st to 70th floors, are rarely entered.
However, this is understandable, as the floors preceding the 61st floor are the 71st and 72nd floors, and the monsters that appear there are so strong that the amount of money that can be earned is completely different.
Therefore, adventurers who can reach the latter dungeon floors tend to avoid dungeon attacks.
Furthermore, even if they do undertake a dungeon attack, there is a limit to the number of materials they can bring back.
Additionally, since there are no safe areas along the way, few people venture too deep into the dungeon.
Even after Kousuke opened up the tower, this trend continued, and in recent years, very few adventurer groups attempt to conquer it.
As a result, the 61st to 70th floors, despite having treasure chests prepared, remain deserted.
“I understand that earning money is important for adventurers, but I wish they’d be a little more eager to adventure…”
“No, are you really saying that, Father?”
Since conquering the tower on the Central Continent, Kousuke has almost completely withdrawn from adventuring and hasn’t engaged in any real adventuring.
If anything could be considered an adventure, it would be the Divine Realm Conversion of the Central Continent, but whether that qualifies as adventuring is debatable.
However, no one can accurately define what constitutes adventurer-like activity.
After all, an adventurer is someone who accepts any request.
Therefore, what Kousuke is referring to as “adventurers” is purely his own image.
“Besides, being an adventurer is, in reality, nothing more than a life-or-death gamble. There are only a limited number of people like you, Father, who cling to such dreams.”
“What a lack of dreams.”
Kousuke sighed with resignation at his son’s sensible observation.
He was well aware that as adventuring was a profession, earning money was paramount.
Yet, he still felt that adventurers were meant to seek out the unknown world and unknown things.
As Kousuke pondered this, Riku said with a shrug, “If that’s the case, why don’t you actually get involved, Father… oh, right, that’s impossible.”
If Kousuke were to act himself, the moment he was revealed to be an Avatar, an atmosphere of “As expected” or “That’s natural” would spread.
In that case, the goal of inspiring other adventurers would not be achieved.
Kousuke himself, along with others of exceptional skill, would likely be met with distrust even if they acted flamboyantly to inspire those around them.
“It’s probably impossible. In that case, it might be faster to train such talent instead?”
“Do you have the discernment for that, Father?”
If they could find individuals who would likely develop significant strength in the future, perhaps Kousuke’s idea could be realized.
However, Kousuke firmly shook his head at Riku’s question.
“No, it’s impossible.”
“As expected. Then, is there no choice but to give up?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. Sigh.”
Riku’s words were met with a disappointed sigh from Kousuke.
Peach enthusiastically joined the mock battle.
The members of “Flame Wolf,” who became her outlet for stress relief, were quite unfortunate.
Incidentally, Riku also participated later on in the session.
The latter part about “adventurers’ dreams” was just something I added casually, so it’s not certain whether it will actually be implemented.
