A base was added to the 83rd Floor, and a shrine was deliberately chosen and built on the intersection of ley lines.
While also expecting it to be like the Lily Shrine, the confirmation is also being made to see if there will be differences depending on the level of surrounding monsters.
For this reason, to make the conditions as similar as possible to the 8th Floor, three types of Fragment series were also installed in the same base.
It was installed on the floor with foxes, but not on the floor with wolves, so it should also be possible to confirm whether the three types of Fragments affect wolves.
It seems like so many things were packed in that it might become unclear which one is having an effect, but for now, it is good enough to be able to confirm that it affects evolution.
If evolution can be confirmed, it will be possible to individually divide and deal with them later.
By the way, since a shrine was installed, I asked Wanri to bring several foxes that can shapeshift into human form, and several dozen foxes that cannot.
Shapeshifting foxes are necessary for maintaining the shrine.
As for the other foxes, it was done out of consideration, as they would have difficulty being surrounded only by wolves.
Coincidentally, this is the first attempt in Amamiya Tower for multiple types of familiars to coexist on the same floor, and even within the same base.
Kousuke believes that it will not lead to major problems, mainly because Nana is there and there are foxes that can shapeshift, but he decided to check in on them frequently for a while.
A few days after leaving the foxes on the 83rd Floor.
Kousuke was tilting his head on the veranda of the shrine.
“Ugh… …”
“Brother, is something wrong?”
Today, Wanri also came to check on the foxes.
“No, I was just thinking that they got used to it faster than I expected.”
In Kousuke’s line of sight, there were wolves and foxes playing together.
And it wasn’t just one pair; similar scenes were unfolding all over.
Currently, the wolves are not hunting in the surrounding area, so almost all of them have returned to the base.
By the way, Nana is lying down in the shrine garden, basking in the sunlight.
Upon hearing Kousuke’s words, Wanri tilted her head for a moment.
“Is there some kind of problem?”
“No, no, it’s not a problem or anything. I was just wondering if it’s okay for different species to become friends so easily.”
“Eh!?”
“Eh?”
Kousuke was also surprised when Wanri suddenly let out a small cry of surprise.
Kousuke didn’t understand why Wanri was surprised.
“Um… … we can tell immediately that we are Brother’s familiars, so I don’t think we would actually become enemies…”
Of course, problems like not getting along with each other individually will naturally occur, but that happens even among humans.
What Kousuke was concerned about now was whether conflict would arise due to the barrier between species.
However, Kousuke was surprised by Wanri’s words this time.
“Eh!? You can tell that you are familiars of each other?”
Wanri’s eyes widened at Kousuke’s reaction, which could be considered belated.
Mitsuki, who was also listening to their conversation, chimed in.
“What are you talking about? While it might be true for Amamiya Tower, the other towers summon different familiars on the same floor, don’t they?”
“Well, yes, but I thought they were just protecting their territory.”
Mitsuki, sensing a discrepancy in Kousuke’s words, paused for a moment to think.
“… … Weren’t you thinking that they wouldn’t fight because they are familiars?”
“No. While it’s true that they are familiars… … How should I put it?”
Kousuke struggled for a while to put the vague feeling he had into words.
After tilting his head for about a minute, Kousuke made a fist with his right hand and placed it on his left palm.
“Ah, I see. They are familiars, but they are simply programmed not to fight, and I hadn’t considered that they have a sense of camaraderie as familiars… … is that it?”
Wanri and Mitsuki tilted their heads at the explanation, and after a while, Mitsuki responded.
“You mean you thought of them as simply companions living together, rather than as ‘Kousuke’s’ familiars?”
“Is that so?”
It was an ambiguous reply from Kousuke, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn’t effectively articulate what he was thinking.
Abandoning any further explanation, Kousuke quickly switched his focus and turned his gaze to Wanri.
“Then, can other familiars… for example, can Kou and the others also properly distinguish me as their Master?”
“Of course.”
Wanri had interacted with Kou and the others before, and she understood him then, and Kou and the others also recognized him as their familiar.
“What about familiars from other towers?”
“Of course, I can tell.”
“So that’s how it was…”
Kousuke nodded in admiration at the belatedly realized fact.
“And? If they recognize them as familiars, does that mean something?”
“No, it’s not that anything in particular happens. I was just a little curious… … Hmm? Huh? Could it be that familiars of monsters other than me can also distinguish them from wild monsters? For example, Mia’s familiars?”
Mia also naturally summons and raises familiars in Little Amamiya, which she manages.
Kousuke was very curious whether they could distinguish their familiars from ordinary wild (?) monsters.
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Nana and Wanri had only gone to Little Amamiya during the conquest, and had not been there since.
Naturally, they had never met the familiars summoned by Mia.
It was a reasonable argument that they wouldn’t know if they could distinguish Mia’s familiars from other monsters until they met them, so Kousuke and the others immediately decided to head to Little Amamiya.
Mia, who as usual finds loopholes to hang out in Little Amamiya, was naturally in the management layer.
She looked surprised when Kousuke suddenly appeared after passing through the teleport gate.
“Father, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, no. I just came because there was something I wanted to confirm.”
“Something you want to confirm?”
“Yeah. You see…”
Kousuke, who started talking, explained the conversation from earlier to Mia.
Mia’s expression became slightly surprised after listening.
“You can distinguish my familiars from other monsters?”
As for Mia, she thought that only familiars of the same Master (?) could be distinguished, and other Masters’ familiars would be treated the same as ordinary monsters.
Therefore, she had limited the familiars Kousuke brought to each floor to the minimum necessary.
“No, that’s what I don’t know, so I came to confirm.”
“I see. So that’s what it is. … … Let’s go right away!”
“Whoa. Wait, Mia. Don’t pull my clothes! We’re going!”
Ignoring Kousuke, who was flustered by being pulled by his clothes, Mia headed towards the teleport gate.
“… … Am I the only one who thinks they are a frighteningly similar pair of father and child?”
Mitsuki said that upon seeing that, but fortunately, Kouhi and Wanri did not say anything about it.
It was confirmed by Nana and Wanri that Mia’s familiars could be distinguished as familiars.
However, it was possible that they might not be able to tell whose familiar they were.
Both Nana and Wanri knew Mia, so they immediately knew they were Mia’s familiars, but for other familiars, they wouldn’t know until they met the person themselves.
This is only Kousuke’s conjecture, but he was thinking that perhaps the familiars could sense information about familiars, similar to how he sees status with his left eye.
When asked in detail by Nana and Wanri how they distinguished them, they gave vague answers, saying they just somehow felt it, rather than distinguishing them by appearance or smell.
Kousuke theorized that they were grasping that aspect as a sensation, as he records the information entering his eyes into text.
In reality, he doesn’t know for sure, so it is purely Kousuke’s speculation.
In any case, it was a fruitful harvest this time just to know that familiars can distinguish each other as familiars.
This was a story about familiars being able to distinguish each other.
By the way, during Sarita Tower, they were not summoning familiars, but fighting with ordinary summons, so Nana could not distinguish them either.
However, even if they had known they were someone’s familiar, they would have fought without mercy.
