Mira's PoV:

It was turning dark before I knew it, so I returned to the "Loong Dungeon".  Secret maneuvers take more time than one would expect. 

When I returned, I found Ling relaxing in a fancy chair made of bamboo and resting with his pipe. Did he find anything?

"Long story short: no." - Ling

"Now that's disappointing." - Mira

"Sorry about that. The truth is that I found something, but things are somewhat complicated." - Ling

"Try me." - Mira

"Okay. Regarding Mikazuchi, there is nothing on her. The only thing my local friends knows is that she was born five years ago and started making a name last year. Way too short for her to develop any hidden weaknesses." - Ling

"What about her parents, or something like that? She's just a child, so if she had something like a guardian-" - Mira

"I had the same idea, but no one knows of any such persons. Mikazuchi is famous for working alone, except for a clan of crystal-type golems that recently started to follow her." - Ling

"Like the guy building the arena at the tower. You know when they started hanging out with little miss childish?" - Mira

"Half a year ago. And before you ask, it was before the death of that Wind General fellow you guys talked about." - Ling

This means the golems are likely to not be connected to Mikazuchi's new position as one of the Demon King's goons. It's more plausible to think that this golem-gang was part of the reason why they wanted to recruit that sparky little brat.

"In the end, nothing on Mikazuchi herself came up. So I started looking in a different direction." - Ling

"Towards what?" - Mira

"Thunder Spirit Lords. Mikazuchi isn't the only one of those." - Ling

"...not a bad idea. If there was such a convenient weakness-" - Mira

"There is." - Ling

"There is one!?" - Mira

"Yes, but..., it is inside the Treasure Tower." - Ling

"...the tower? The one currently locked up in a barrier of lightning? Why?" - Mira

"It is simple. The weakness is a treasure that is selected as the key for the coronation quest." - Ling

"...?????" - Mira

"I understand that you are confused, but it is not such a difficult story. The key items related to clearing the coronation quest are not created just for this quest alone. They are chosen by the World System itself, and every item will have something in common with its guardian." - Ling

"And the guardian is the one we gotta beat to earn the gizmo...? Are you saying Mikazuchi is the guardian?" - Mira

"Not her exactly. I think this Demon King in Solomar must have used his "generals" as a catalyst to initiate the coronation quest. The last time there was a coronation quest on this Luxuria continent, back when I was still a child, the Treasure Towers and their guardians were based on the individuals participating in the quest. Not some random people working for one of the participants." - Ling

"So the Towers were created with the generals in mind, and the treasures..., became stuff related to the generals again." - Mira

I'm feeling a headache coming strong, and Ling nodding to my words is intensifying it. 

What a mess. The item that could potentially solve our problem is located in the Tower, but to get to it we gotta solve the problem, aka defeating Mikazuchi. In short, we're stuck. 

I left Ling so he could rest his old bones. Because honestly, I see no other solution than to fight in that stupid tournament tomorrow, and wind. 

But that only holds if I was your average cute Sprite~. Fighting in the tournament is still a must, so I'd better clench my teeth and try to survive.

With that in mind, I started looking for Blot. I want to hear if he had any luck recruiting people to fill our slots. 

"The extra members? Yes, I managed to find some people at the bottom of the barrel." - Blot

I love working with someone that does all the work for me~. Let's see, what do their papers tell us...

The first set of documents that had the Adventurers' Union's logo on it showed the info about a black-haired girl with visibly long fangs, with cat ears and tail. Her hair is tinted with electrical blue at the ends. She seems to have a well-trained body, and while not as impressive as the succubi back in Damavand, she does have a visually pleasing body style. 

She's wearing a tank-top, short pants, plus gloves and boots that seem designed for close combat. They're mostly white, electrical blue, and black in that color. The color ratio from most to least is in the same order. She's not wearing any fancy accessories except for a pair of earrings and a necklace, all made from monster claws/fangs. 

Speaking of claws, her weapon of choice is a pair of claw gauntlets. It seems they're designed so the claws will be added on top of her own if she transforms into a more bestial form thanks to her nature as a Therianthrope, adding the power and durability of both types of claws to each other. Impressive.

"That is one of the adventurers who still traveled the mountains even after the first batch was defeated. She is strong enough to be a diversion, at the very least." - Blot

No ounce of confidence in your selection, huh. But maybe it's because of that? He did say he found these guys "at the bottom of the barrel". 

"She does seem like she's been through some battles, yes. How did you find her?" - Mira

"She was making smoke signals after getting lost in the mountains. Promising her a lift back to the city, along with a monetary reward of 100.000 Sol was enough to make her agree to participate." - Blot

How loose is your wallet? The only way to earn that much on a job would be hunting down a dangerous C-rank monster for the Adventurers' Union...

"You think the Thunder Spirit Lord has C-ranks participating for her?" - Mira

"The golem we saw earlier today is a rank C, so it would not surprise me if she had more." - Blot

...yeah, it's good that I'm preparing my plan B. Even I cannot defeat a C-ranker in a one-on-one fight. 

I told Blot about my secret preparations, and...

"Not bad. Not bad at all. I will make sure that the recruits are playing along with this plan." - Blot

And he's giving it rave reviews! Nice~. 

And while we're first speaking of the recruits, how are the other ones?

This one is a vampire. Just like Alf. Aaaand that's all I can connect them with. Because this girl sucks. Sucking blood, that is.

She's got a pretty thin body, except her hips, has sickly pale skin (nothing like Garami who's more of a "demonic" white), and she got waist-long hair that's white but with some large, blood-red stripes mixed in. Furthermore, she has some notably long fangs, even for a vampire, blood-red eyes with sharp pupils, and despite her thin body, she's more than likely to end up in one of Ciara's hand-drawn books if they meet.

And even if you ignore all the obvious vampire-related clues, this girl is somehow radiating an "I am a bloodsucker!!" aura from her. 

She's dressed in what you could only refer to as a bondage swimsuit. It's made out of leather, mostly black, and the outfit comes with long boots with garter belts, detachable sleeves that wouldn't look strange on a fancy noble's dress, and a big, black cloak that seems like a great fit for a vampire. Also, she has lots of bat-themed accessories. Earrings, hairpins, rings, bracelets..., you get the deal.

Even her outfits are far from what Alf would wear. And that includes their classes as well. Sure, the Blood Countess is evolved from the Blood Drinker class and Blood Warrior class, the latter being a class that Alf also has, but our angler vampire said he only chose that one because it is connected to a non-blood-related vampire class. Not sure what though. 

"I found those three girls together in the mountains. The vampire agreed right away when I promised her a scroll with [Sun Resistance] and the opportunity of getting a mutation with Succubus-related creature." - Blot

"Meaning she's a vampire-version of Ciara. Got it. Wait, you can promise mutations? And does demons even have Magic Stones?" - Mira

Wasn't mutation all about using those stones that MAY develop inside a creature of rank C or higher? And that's restricted to only monsters, no?

"You do realize that Babel has fought against the Demon King's forces for several years now. And any high-ranked demons can develop Diabolic Stones in their bodies. It would not surprise me if miss Garami has one." - Blot

"Ah, okay..., and those Diabolic stones, do they...?" - Mira

"Improve the growth of skills just like with Magic Stones? Of course, they do." - Blot

And I thought that woman couldn't get any worse...? Why am I not feeling bad about that?

Anyway, the next one is...

It's a catgirl. Or more specifically, a nekomata. Complete with cat ears and two tails. She has pale, silver hair that reaches her feet. It makes you wonder if she's ever cut it. She's got heteromeric cat-eyes, one green and the other blue. As for clothing, she's only wearing a white kimono with black cats on it as decoration, but it's worn loosely on her as if she doesn't care about fixing it, and a pair of sandals. 

Then it's her staff. It looks like a common magic staff, but there's a book at the tip. It's written in the documents that the book can open and the nekomata can write spells in it. Pretty fancy. Could rival Ciara's new pen/staff thingy she got before she left for the marshlands.

"...did they forget to write down that she's an undead?" - Mira

I couldn't stop myself from asking. This girl looks dead in the picture. There's no light in her eyes, and that title of hers, is that some personalized title like Garami's? 

"That girl seems to have been overly affected by her main class. You could say most of her emotions are in a coma." - Blot

Oh yeah. This "Slacker Lord" class has the reputation of making people dead weights even in its intermediate stage, the Slacker class. Developing such a class, is this girl stupid?

"And how did you get such a lifeless cat to join on our team?" - Mira

"I did not. She was the one who asked to join." - Blot

"Oh, really?" - Mira

"Yes. When she overheard that the vampire could obtain a mutation based on the succubi species, she spoke up and asked to join as well. In exchange, she wished for her "apathy", if I should call it that, to be erased. No matter the costs." - Blot

......I guess everyone has their luggage to take care of. 

And for the last girl..., hey. She's even got the [Hero] Extra Skill. The vamp did have something that looked like a vampire-related Extra Skill, but her personality file made me lose interest in her. 

This one is a sun-tanned oni with two black horns. She's got sun-bleached hair that reaches her shoulders on the front and the back is kept together in a ponytail. She got clear-blue eyes with a scar that goes across her left eye. She's quite muscular, but not overly buff. 

She's dressed in a black bodysuit that shows off much of her arms, legs, and chest, and she's wearing a white and golden jacket over that again. Black leather gloves and black boots with metal tips complete her outfit. Lots of belts on her outfit, and a gourd that's probably filled with alcohol. Seeing her classes and race, I doubt I'm wrong.

"Is this one the leader for the trio?" - Mira

"Think she is close to that. She is keeping an eye on the vampire, and the vampire is sort of keeping an eye on the nekomata. Or so I believe, looking at their files." - Blot

A trio of knuckleheads, plus one more. Wonder how they will fare. 

"How did you recruit this girl? She seems more level-headed than the other two." - Mira

"I promised her that I would include that the vampire's mutation operation would include some measurements to make the vampire less "wild". And she wanted a year-long pass to the Damavand's recreation facilities." - Blot

Garami did say that these guys got that right in exchange for all the cash we borrowed from them.

"But enough about that. Take the rest of the night free. We need you at top shape tomorrow, team leader." - Blot

Yeah, sure. Good niiii..., what did you call me?

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