Loki and Sawada Tsunayoshi left the secluded courtyard behind. The heavy gloom that had once hung over that place was replaced by hope. The adventurers who had been incomplete were made whole again. Now all they needed was a period of training and recuperation before they could return to the familia's front lines.
"What a pity."
The Healing Rabbit's utility was immense—but it wasn't something that could be shown off freely. Tsunayoshi sighed at that conclusion.
"No need to pity anything."
Loki hooked an arm around Tsunayoshi's shoulders.
"The rabbit you created is actually very strong. Its healing coverage is incredibly comprehensive. But precisely because it's too comprehensive, we have to control it. Otherwise our familia will end up on the opposite side of all the merchant familias. That loss wouldn't be worth the gain."
"There's no need to weaken the rabbit's power, but unless it's an absolute emergency, keep only the first three functions in play. It's enough if Finn and the others know your rabbit can regenerate severed limbs. As for closing wounds, detox, and decursing, we'll use stock restorative items."
Loki had full confidence in the abilities of the "Healing Rabbit" that Tsunayoshi had made. In the realm of healing, it was nearly on par with the "Saint of the Battlefield," and with a bit of tuning it could probably even handle group-wide healing. But it was too all-purpose. Without the means to counter a coordinated boycott from the merchant familias, the rabbit had to be kept under wraps.
"Besides the Healing Rabbit, you've made other stuff, haven't you? Tell me. I'm curious."
With the Healing Rabbit as a dazzling support piece up front, Loki was naturally interested in whatever else Tsunayoshi had manufactured.
"The rest is… something I built to match Tiona's needs in dungeon expeditions: a rest space that's safe and comfortable, supplies bath water, and provides storage."
"A rest space?" Loki hadn't expected him to solve that problem so quickly.
"That's already great. The biggest issues in deep runs are survival and resupply. Finn's always been passionate about pushing farther, but logistics always force a retreat. With your rest space, he'll probably jump for joy."
"Still, some things need to be tucked away. You haven't truly grown into your power yet. For the next three or four years, you should hide yourself as much as possible. Once you've reached a certain height, then you can stand in the spotlight."
"Loki-sama, I never planned to stand in the spotlight anyway."
"I can tell."
Loki wasn't surprised. From their very first meeting, she could see Tsunayoshi lacked excessive greed or fixation—like a kid who hadn't fully grown up. But for strength, he had a fierce hunger.
"Sometimes you don't get to refuse the spotlight just because you don't want it. If your power surpasses the norm, the world's spotlight will drift to you on its own. That's true in any world. The key is that power lets you live the life you want. If you have the power to choose, whether the light's on you won't matter."
She'd struck at the heart of the matter. Spotlights find you for all sorts of reasons. If you don't want to face them, then you don't need enough power to decide. But if you do—
In the end, it all came down to strength. Tsunayoshi didn't find anything wrong with that. He yearned for power. When chances came, he would take them. He'd long understood that strength could bend fate.
"Power still has to be built up step by step. When I'm capable—when I can resolve the biggest threat in this world—I'll also be able to find the road home. And I can deal with the trouble back in my homeland too."
"There's trouble in your other world as well?"
"I can't be sure. What I know is based on a 'story.'"
"Oh-ho, a 'story,' huh. In that case you can't pin down the road ahead—your involvement will definitely change it. That's for later. Right now you need to think about how to raise your strength and your Level together."
She'd definitely go see Tsunayoshi's world someday, Loki decided. But that was for the future—at least not until he had a path back. The top priority for now was improving his personal strength.
"In that case, you've already prepared what needs preparing. A 'Healing Rabbit,' a 'rest space'… Right, didn't you give Ais a pair of bracelets yesterday? What do they do? She couldn't even move in bed this morning."
"She couldn't move this morning? Ais must have left the gravity bracelets on all night. They're training gear you apply to your own body to crank up the load—adjustable from 1x to 10x gravity. Last night Ais told me her situation; I figured the monsters weren't challenging enough for her, so I gave her a way to fix that. I just didn't expect her to use them at night."
This woman's obsession with strength bordered on deranged. Tsunayoshi knew Ais was dedicated, but he hadn't expected her to go that far. Who wears gravity gear through the night before adapting to it? If she hadn't been crushed by the weight, it was only because her body's condition had improved.
"That's just how Ais is. From now on, don't hand her any of your manufactured beasts—any training device—without telling me first. Normal tools are one thing. But if it's your gear and it can be used for training, you have to assume the worst once it's in Ais's hands."
"You mean… she'll abuse it?"
"Exactly. You'd be safer giving it to Tiona than to Ais. At least Tiona won't make trouble for herself in the middle of the night. Ais, though—if something helps her get stronger, she'll do it any time. She's a legitimate troublemaker."
Everyone else was more or less manageable. Only Ais was the uncontrollable one—with a special kind of single-mindedness.
Loki had practically watched Ais grow up; she knew how the girl would act in all sorts of situations. If it had anything to do with strength, Ais's not-so-clever brain would start operating with a screw loose. Without someone nearby to restrain her, she'd absolutely do things that exceeded everyone's expectations.
(End of Chapter)
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