Regarding the towers excluding the Northwest Tower, they are growing smoothly (?), so I decided to leave the rest to the members.
The Northwest Tower, which I haven’t touched at all, is something I intend to leave to Haku eventually, but for now, I’m having Shurein and the others follow me around and observe various things.
The Northwest Tower, where no management has been implemented, showed no particularly significant changes, and it seemed to be going through its natural course.
Although I intend to start managing the Northwest Tower eventually, the reality is that I don’t have enough resources to do so at the moment.
And as for the Amamiya Tower, which is the crucial one, it has barely changed.
The only change is in the number of summon beasts; I haven’t summoned them to new floors or anything.
I’m also refraining from touching the installed Fairy Stones for now.
I’m verifying what will happen if they are left unattended for a long period. …Using that as an excuse, I was doing other work.
That being said, it wasn’t anything significant.
I was increasing the number of summon beasts on each floor and setting up summoning circles for food.
I was also spending my time researching divine tools.
…Regarding divine tools, there hasn’t been any major progress.
To be blunt, since there were no new installations, I couldn’t think of anything else to do.
It might be good to place things that can be installed one after another, but if I place them indiscriminately, I won’t be able to manage them at all.
The same applies to summoning circles; the floors of Amamiya Tower are vast, so managing even one type of summon beast per floor, let alone multiple summon beasts, becomes difficult.
I’m not at a deadlock, but the truth is, I don’t want to do anything reckless.
Furthermore, for Nana and Wanri, their current floors seem to be just right.
There’s no need to limit it to just Nana and Wanri, but Kousuke can’t decide who to entrust it to.
“So, what should I do?”
“Brother, are you thinking hard about something?”
As Kousuke was pondering, Wanri arrived.
Incidentally, when Kousuke frets in a place where other members might come, it’s when he wants to talk to someone.
Otherwise, he’ll ponder endlessly in the laboratory.
He only frets like this when he thinks a solution might be found from another person’s perspective, rather than pondering alone.
Of course, the other members understand this and go along with it.
Rather, the other members are doing the same thing.
“Oh, Wanri. You came.”
Upon seeing Wanri, Kousuke immediately reached out and started stroking her head.
Kousuke’s hand would reach out out of habit from before, but Wanri wouldn’t stop him.
In fact, she had suggested stopping him before, but at that time, Wanri had looked so disappointed that he continues to do so.
It seems Wanri prefers being petted, whether she’s in human form or fox form.
However, the wolves and other foxes also like being petted by Kousuke.
“I’m wondering whether to increase the floors where the summon beasts are.”
“Increase them…!?”
Seeing Wanri’s happy expression, Kousuke thought something was odd.
“Huh? You think it’s better to increase them?”
“Eh? But then, lots of companions will increase, right?”
“That’s true… but won’t management become difficult?”
Hearing Kousuke’s words, Wanri tilted her head.
“Management… you mean meals?”
“No, that’s part of it, but you do patrol, don’t you?”
“Even if you call it patrolling, I’m just showing my presence, right? I’m not really doing anything. I’m sure Nana-chan is the same.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
The reason Nana and Wanri patrol the areas where their respective kin reside is to indicate their presence.
By doing so, they prevent groups and familiars from running wild.
Previously, Nana would even help with hunting, but now her hands are completely free.
In that sense, it can be said that she is simply going back and forth between groups.
“I see… So the problem is setting up summoning circles.”
“Aren’t monsters and animals that appear on the floors okay?”
“Well, it’s not that they’re not okay, but will they be enough?”
In the current floors inhabited by wolves and foxes, a balance is maintained by setting up summoning circles to secure their food.
Of course, some are installed for evolutionary purposes, but securing food is also a significant aspect.
“I think they’ll be enough… but their territories will probably get wider?”
“Well, yes. Then, won’t maintaining the pack eventually become difficult?”
While foxes don’t have as strong an image of pack behavior as wolves, they still act as a group, which prevents them from being hunted by surrounding monsters.
In a sense, the current floors are in a good state of balance in terms of the food chain.
“I think… it’ll be alright…”
Wanri looked down with a lack of confidence.
“No, but I see. Thank you. Talking with you, Wanri, I understand what the problem is.”
“…Really?”
“Really, really. The point is, as long as I can properly set up summoning circles for food on a regular basis.”
“Can you do that?”
“I wonder? I can’t say for sure right now. After all, I’ve never tried it before.”
What Kousuke is thinking about is creating something that can automatically set up summoning circles from the control panel.
Since I’ve never considered modifying the control panel before, I have no idea if it’s possible.
However, it’s definitely worth a try.
After all, if it works well, it will make the experiments being conducted by Silvia and the others easier to manage.
Immediately, Kousuke parted ways with Wanri and headed to the laboratory to consider what could be done.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
“So? What is Kousuke up to again, locking himself away?”
When Kousuke didn’t come out of his room even at dinner time, Colette became impatient and said so.
Incidentally, this was not the first time something like this had happened, hence the remark.
“I-I’m sorry. Ever since I spoke with you during the day…”
“Ah, no, no. I’m not blaming Wanri.”
Today, Wanri was also planning to have dinner, so she had stayed in the management layer until this time.
Seeing Wanri’s apologetic expression, Colette quickly tried to smooth things over.
“Ah, shall I go call him?”
Haku said, standing up from his seat.
“Haku, there’s no point, so you don’t have to go.”
Shurein stopped Haku.
In fact, when Kousuke gets into this state, he concentrates so hard that he doesn’t notice anyone calling him.
As a result, he has skipped meals more than once or twice.
That’s why Shurein and the others were accustomed to the situation.
“Since he’s gotten like this, he won’t come out for a while. Let’s just eat by ourselves.”
“But if Father skips meals, won’t he damage his health?”
“Kohhi and Mitsuki wouldn’t allow that, so don’t worry.”
At Shurein’s words, the members other than Wanri and Haku nodded firmly.
“As for Kousuke, worrying about him right now is pointless, so let’s just eat!”
When Colette declared this, the other members began to eat as they pleased.
Following their lead, Haku and Wanri also began to eat.
