Never Die Extra (Edited)

As Evan and his group entered the bathhouse, Must Save, who was in the bathhouse, covered his eyes upon the sight of him and cried whilst running out.

“…So, he has that kind of problem.”

“That guy looks really dangerous. Will he be okay, Master…?”

“Yeah. We’ll keep an eye on the proficiency he got from the dungeon while he is in the bathhouse…”

Shine’s concern was not such a problem, but Evan was unexpectedly serious. However, it didn’t appeal to him to call in Save. He didn’t want to break his own no-direct-contact rule.

“Oh, by the way, the bathhouse is so crowded today.”

“Since the reopening of the dungeon, explorers have come to realize the importance of Brotherhood Bathhouse. Furthermore, the complete closure of Merdin is bringing more explorers to Sherden than ever before.”

“You’ve already raised the admission fee to half a coin, haven’t you? That would be a huge income.”

“You don’t know, they might be offering discounts for new explorers.”

At that time, Shine and Raihan’s conversation caught Evan’s ears as soon as he heard that. Evan realized how to solve all the problems.

“Yes, we can make the tubs wider.”

“Oh…”

Originally, the Brotherhood Bathhouse had no classification, and everyone went into one bath. Of course, men’s and women’s baths were separated, but that was all.

That had been why most aristocrats protested at first. Of course, it was resolved by setting aside exclusive hours for aristocrats, but not all complaints could be resolved in that manner alone.

Evan had ignored such noise so far, but it wasn’t that he didn’t understand their hardships.

Nevertheless, they did not increase the size of the tub because the fragments of dungeon cores they brought from the hot spring village limited them to a tub of only the current size.

In other words, it was not that the tub size could not be increased, but rather, they were unable to maintain a bigger tub.

“Increasing the size of the tub… is it possible?”

“It’s possible if it’s us.”

“If it were us right now… Ah! Are you talking about the steam that we get from Steama?”

“You’re sharp as expected.”

So far, he had been focusing only on Sherden because he didn’t know when the dungeon would be reopened, but now that he was thinking about it, the dungeon must have stabilized to some extent. Even the sub-party had been secured, and some urgent problems had been solved.

The first problem he would tackle now would be with the expansion of the Brotherhood Bathhouse.

“The steam we brought was a fragment of a Dungeon Core buried near Steama. Do you remember?”

“That’s right. The experience I had right after I met the Master was particularly clear.”

He made a face as if he missed Raihan and soaked himself in the bath. Shine then spoke up on Evan’s behalf.

“Then, isn’t the steam that you get after targeting the dungeon concentrated with much more intense hot spring energy?”

“That’s the answer. Bring it, and you’ll be able to address the demand inside Sherden completely.”

“As expected of you, sir.”

“…Ahm, I still feel a little sorry for Steama, though.”

Of course, the fact that they had brought dungeon cores did not mean Steama was not a hot spring village anymore, but they could not erase the feeling of damaging its unique identity.

“Steama has its own charm. The tourists of Steama enjoy the hot spring and the relaxed atmosphere of the hot spring village. They travel there to go take a rest. Meanwhile, Brotherhood Bathhouse exists to relieve the fatigue of explorers and improve their skills. So it’s okay!”

Evan’s grinning and gushing discouraged Raihan from even asking questions. At least Evan didn’t think it was something to say, but Shine clenched his fist and sympathized with him.

“You are so brazen and confident saying that.”

“That’s right, because I’m not ashamed of my actions.”

“…”

Evan, who briefly soaked himself in the bathhouse, came back to the headquarters and called on Louise. Louise, who had been taking a rest in her room at the headquarters, responded immediately.

“I’m coming in, sir.”

“You’ve come so fast. Um…?”

As soon as Evan saw Louise, he realized that her energy had changed drastically. This kind of change does not occur to this extent from merely increasing your dungeon level. In other words, this is…

“Oh, you got a new job, didn’t you? Congratulations.”

“Yes, I have a report on the dungeon run, including that.”

“Report… you’re meticulous, too. I’ll read it for now.”

It had not been long since she returned from the dungeon, did she record it during her exploration?

Evan accepted the report in admiration of her sincerity. However, he couldn’t help but keep his eyes on the first chapter.

“Save got a job on the first floor?”

“Yes… he said he got a job that could prove his faith in my teacher, but he didn’t elaborate, but from the moment he got the job, he became incredibly strong. If you read the report, you’ll see, but the new skill he got from the hidden boss battle on the fifth floor is particularly powerful.”

“I’ve never seen anyone get a job on the first floor in the Yo-Ma Great War series. Besides, I’m not a God. What kind of faith is he talking about….?”

Honestly, Evan was scared at this point. Where was his replacement looking? Now Evan was seriously contemplating whether he should leave Must Save as he was.

However, as Louise had said, it was noticeable that the job’s ability itself was great, and that he easily passed most of the battle to acquire achievements. They would have to check it again with the video recorded on the crystal ball later.

The most surprising thing was the last battle they fought.

“What? Did you clear the battle with just one bottle of the freezing potion?”

“I’m ashamed to say… Yes, we did.”

“That’s crazy….”

Evan sent quite a few secret weapons to Louise to clear the Dungeon’s hidden accomplishments, including the Hidden Boss Battle. It was because the Hidden Boss was not an achievement that Newbies could clear up. It was content that even challenged veteran ‘no-lifes’ in the game.

No matter how much the Louise party had been prepared in advance, Evan thought that it would be too much without the items Evan had prepared. However, the only thing they had managed to use up was an ice potion.

Evan could not believe it, so he checked the recordings himself. The answer could be found right away.

“Of course.”

While the initial support of Renail was remarkable, and the destructive power of Save’s mysterious job was commendable, the most critical factor in the Hidden Boss Battle was Louise’s judgment and combat receptiveness.

This was all due to Louise’s high battle sense. Of course, this was a result of her training, which included a lot of image training. Evan smiled faintly at Louise, who was slightly nervous.

“You tried hard.”

“Yes.”

“You did a great job. You’ll just have to keep doing this. Oh, please keep reporting to me about Save’s ability to detect the skills of the monsters.”

“I see, and…”

“And?”

Louise, who had chosen to respond bravely at first, suddenly trailed off. Evan, who became suspicious, tilted his head, and Louise suddenly lowered her head toward him.

“If you’re praising me, then…”

“What about it?”

“My mother…”

Louise continued with her head down.

“My mother… Whenever she complimented me, she always stroked my hair.”

“….”

‘So, if I am going to compliment you, do you want me to stroke your head?’ To be honest, Evan couldn’t understand what she was thinking.

‘Is she hypnotizing herself? To cope with her environment…’

Evan suddenly felt sorry for Louise and inadvertently reached out and stroked her hair very lightly and gently. He could see Diona, who was standing behind her, shaking her head without a word, but he ignored her.

“Good job.”

“…Yes, Teacher.”

After a few more strokes, Louise stepped back, satisfied. With her proud, somewhat lonesome expression, Evan said nothing and read the final chapter of the report.

In the process, Save was astonishingly awakened to magic resistance, Renail completed her job progression as an Earth Wizard, and Louise acquired…

“Puppeteer?”

“Yes. Do you know what that is?”

“No, I don’t know, what is that? I’m scared…”

It was the pinnacle of the report. Evan didn’t know what class Save acquired exactly, but ‘Puppeteer’ was even more mysterious. What’s more, the actual job’s capability was excellent!

Louise had improved herself and her party members by 15%, and as well, had improved skills by 10%. It was an undeniably incredible ability that not only had additive effects, but as well added to skills.

“Have you ever used your unique skills?”

“No, not yet.”

“Puppet String… I think it’s a skill that manipulates an opponent.”

Evan thought for a moment and stretched his arm toward Louise.

“Would you like to try it on me?”

“Oh, no. I don’t know how it works, so I can’t use it.”

“It’s okay. I can trust you even if I get caught in your skill.”

“Teacher….”

Louise looked quite moved by Evan’s lip service. But in fact, he was able to allow it in the first place because he thought that he couldn’t be beaten by a noob who only just acquired her first job!

“Then I’ll try…. Puppet String!”

Louise hesitated. At the end of her skill, a transparent magic thread came out of her right hand, which usually held a shortsword.

A thread that stretched right under the fingernails of all five of her fingers seemed to wander in the air at first, but soon flew into Evan’s arm.

“Oh, does it hurt?”

“No, not at all.”

Evan could have resisted, but if he did, there would be no point in doing the experiment in the first place. Evan moved his arm with the magic thread and felt resistance there. If Evan’s ability was weaker than Louise’s, he would have no control.

“That’s great. With a little training, you can stop the resistance of the enemy completely.”

“Th-Thank you. But still, it is pretty rude of me to hold my teacher’s body…”

“Huh?”

At that point, Diona chose to step in.

“Are you doing something?”

“What, you can’t see it?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Louise’s and Evan’s eyes could see the magic thread, but Diona didn’t seem to see it. This was very surprising to Evan.

Diona’s magic talent wasn’t very good; nevertheless, she was an explorer who hit the dungeon to the 30th floor! It meant that this was a skill that could deceive a person who was far higher in rank than Louise!

“…This is ridiculous.”

“Well, you’re right.”

“Move my arm your way this time. Oh, if you think you can move my body, try it.”

“I can’t dare to do such a thing…”

“Try it.”

“Okay!”

Experiments had shown that Evan’s arm movements required outrageous concentration and mana consumption. It was impossible to move the body.

If the target level was high, it could be concluded that moving the target would consume more energy. Louise soon became exhausted and scanned her skills.

“I just think it’s too much, teacher.”

“Well, I think the level difference was too much, so this was not a proper experiment…”

“I’m not doing it, teacher. Maybe I can succeed if there’s no one there, like the bedroom.”

“Ugh.”

Before Diona could say anything, Evan refused her offer. Louise’s face now turned red.

“Practice that skill hard from now on. This is ridiculously irregular. I mean, your role in the Dungeon Knights could be more important in the future. You understand, right?

“…Yes, teacher! I’ll train hard!”

Louise felt that Evan was looking forward to her future: the feeling of being acknowledged. It was the moment when Louise’s self-esteem was restored.

“And… I’ll be out for a while. Sell the stuff you got from the dungeon and concentrate on your training again. Keep in touch with reports.”

“Are you going far?”

“No, I’ll be right back.”

As soon as she heard that he was going away, Evan smiled at Louise, who looked nervous again.

Her impression of him had changed so much from when she first met him. It reminded Evan of the time when he first met Shine and Belois.

“So, train hard. I’ll come back and evaluate you.”

“Yes…”

He said he would be back soon, but she still looks nervous. Evan inadvertently reached out again and patted her on the head, as he had done before.

“Uh, sorry.”

“No, don’t be.”

Catching himself a bit late, he quickly took his hand off, but fortunately, Louise’s expression was very relaxed, as if she wasn’t in a bad mood.

“I was relieved.”

“Really…? I’m glad to hear that.”

“Oh, Master.”

Only Diona sighed as she watched the scene from behind. Her mouth itched because she wanted to tackle them, but she decided to remain silent for now, vowing to make him pat her head whilst using this as an excuse.