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Chapter : Takuya’s Summoning Card
To steady her nerves, Misuzu took a deep breath.
Once she had calmed down, I asked her to appraise the summoning card I had chosen.
“Takuya-san, this card seems to summon twelve knights.”
“When you summon them, you first need to give names to the captain and vice-captain to make them your retainers.”
“The rest of the knights are already considered subordinates of those two, so you only need to name the captain and vice-captain.”
I see.
I held the card in my hand and chanted, “Summon.”
The card shone brightly before dissolving into shimmering particles.
In the next moment, light gathered before me.
When it faded, twelve knights clad in armor stood there, just as Misuzu had said.
Their faces were hidden beneath helmets.
Only the captain and vice-captain wore mantles—the captain’s lined in red, the vice-captain’s in blue.
The knights all dropped to one knee and bowed in unison.
《Please assign names to the captain and vice-captain》
A mechanical voice echoed in my head.
Misuzu had given her demons names from composers.
So I decided to take mine from pianists.
The captain would be Rubinstein.
The vice-captain would be Bunin.
Watching them, Misuzu spoke up.
“Takuya-san, the knights’ armor, swords, and shields are all made of mithril and enchanted.”
She explained that by pouring magic into their blades, they could unleash slashing waves of magic in addition to physical strikes.
“And the captain and vice-captain’s gear is made from an alloy of mithril and something called adamantite.”
Adamantite? I’d never heard of that metal before.
My contracted spirits could only use magic—they had no physical attacks.
That had always been a weakness, something I had to cover with my “Change” skill.
But if these knights could handle both physical and magical combat, it was a huge advantage.
It looked like I’d drawn a card that suited me perfectly.
Yes!
After a while, the branch manager and the others seemed to finish their investigation.
According to them, the “sandfall route” we had taken was actually a hidden passage.
The proper route required defeating the dungeon boss thought to reside in the lowest level.
“Thought to,” because no one had ever actually reached that boss chamber.
Once defeated, the magic circle in the boss room would activate.
Stepping into it would transfer you to the circle here in this chamber.
Then, the dungeon’s hidden boss would be summoned.
And only after defeating that hidden boss would the circle at the very back of this chamber come to life.
That was the stage we were at now.
Since we had received a “first-time hidden boss defeat reward,” they reasoned that if someone cleared the dungeon by the normal route, the hidden boss would appear again.
After discussing it, we decided to step into the magic circle.
The staff packed their recording equipment into backpacks, and together we entered the circle.
In an instant, the scenery shifted.
…Yeah. I’d seen this place before.
“Where are we?”
“There’s a meadow down below!”
“Looks like we’re pretty high up.”
“Hey, look over there! A castle!”
The staff pointed excitedly.
I explained to the branch manager, “This is the Sky Castle located on the dungeon’s first basement floor.”
“So this is the Sky Castle occupied by the upper wind spirit!”
The branch manager looked astonished.
Misuzu summoned Kuromitsu.
The familiar emerged from the magic circle, and Misuzu gently patted its head.
“Good job, Kuromitsu-chan.”
The branch manager turned to me.
“Takuya, this Sky Castle hasn’t been fully surveyed yet. Could you help us conduct an investigation while we’re here?”
“I’ll ask the upper wind spirit.”
As I was about to set off, a staff member hurriedly stopped me.
“Wait! We’re not ready to record yet!”
“Misuzu-san,” I said, “I’ll go ahead and meet the upper wind spirit. Once everyone’s ready, bring them around to the front gate of the castle.”
“Got it!” Misuzu replied.
“Branch manager, we’re at the back of the castle right now. The front gate is on the other side.”
“I’ll go on ahead. Please wait with Misuzu at the front entrance.”
“Misuzu and I have been granted permission to enter the castle, but without that permission, you could be attacked by the spirits. So until I come to fetch you, don’t go inside on your own, alright?”
After giving that warning, I started walking across the cloudland toward the castle.
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