Level Eater-Chapter 126: New party member

After that, Tatsuro and Ai were on the verge of doing something radical that they wouldn't want to show to a child, but they stopped short when they noticed six people looking at them with interest.

"Hey, desu." (Ai)

"I'm not saying, hey." (Tatsuro)

"Yes. Father." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

(T/N: Should I refer to father as Otto-sama or leave it as father?)

"Hmm. She's an honest and good girl." (Tatsuro)

After saying that, Tatsuro hugged the girl. He was surprised at how light she was.

No matter how small it is, if she is this size it should be several tens of kilos. However, right now, Tatsuro doesn't feel any weight at all, only the weight that could be expressed in grams.

"Light!? What's going on? Cardina and the others were as heavy as they looked." (Tatsuro)

"Huh? Which one is it? She is so light! It's like holding a piece of paper! Hahaha." (Ai)

"Hey, mom, please don't throw the pompoms at me."

"Oops, sorry." (Ai)

Ai apologized and tried to lower the girl to the floor. However, before that, the girl floated up to the surface and slowly, as if gliding, returned to the place where she had been a while ago.

"Rather than being a living being, I'm more like a ghost in your world. In this world, it's called an astral body. Therefore, I have almost no weight."

"Ah, is there such a thing?" (Ai)

"So, so. By the way, aren't you going to give me a name?"

Ah, that too. Ai immediately thought of a name, and it was spilling out of her mouth in less than a second.

"Um, Death Snow――" (Ai)

"Hey, don't use spinal reflexes to name your names. Then it'll be like a notebook where if you write your name, you'll mess up." (Tatsuro)

"Me too, that's..."

The girl also looked at Ai apologetically. So Ai brought the girl closer to her again, and while holding her, looked into her face and thought.

In response, the girl surrendered herself to Ai and leaned against Ai as if to be pampered.

"Hmm. Because she can use curse magic...Shu...slow...magic...!? Majina-chan!" (Ai)

"Whoa, what a sparkling name! No, are you serious? Or rather, she already looks like a Japanese person, so wouldn't it be fine to have a name like ours? " (Tatsuro)

"Hmm, I see. So what should I do?" (Ai)

"I'm kind of worried..."

Since her lifelong name was to be decided, the little girl waited for the moment while being held in Ai's chest, wondering why her father didn't want to give her a name.

Then, after a few unusual names appeared in the world, that name appeared.

"Oh, what about Nana?" (Ai)

"......Isn't that the same name as Ai's friend?" (Tatsuro)

"Buh, that's not true! That's just what I usually call you, but my real name is Nanako." (Ai)

"It's almost a complete copy, isn't it!?" (Tatsuro)

Ai pouted her lips as Tatsuro couldn't help but butt in.

"Eh, but Nanako said that the character N has the meaning of a fruit tree used during rituals..." (Ai)

"Which one?" (Tatsuro)

"Then, there is. Shinto rituals are like spells, right?" (Ai)

"If so, it's not perfect. Besides, it seems easy for someone from this world to call Nana." (Tatsuro)

"Well then….Hmm, I see." (Ai)

As Ai desperately tried to make excuses, Tatsuro was convinced that it meant something like that, so he took the opportunity to ask her about it as well.

"What about you? Do you hate the name Nana?" (Ai)

"Nana...what kind of characters do you write?"

"───That's how it says, na-na, nana." (Tatsuro)

"Now Nana." (Ai)

Ai took out the paper and pen she had for notes from the [item box] and wrote it in front of her.

The girl seemed to like it too, tracing the kanji with her finger over and over again and saying the name.

"It seems like a routine." (Tatsuro)

"Yeah, it's decided." (Ai)

Then, Nana joined the new team.

Once they decided to do so, the two immediately asked Nana to apply for a party, and when she accepted, they confirmed her status.

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Name: Nana

Class:-

Level: 1

Dragon Power: 118

Strength: 17

Durability: 17

Agility: 12

Magic: 28

Magic resistance: 28

Magic control: 23

|Acquired Skills|

[Astral Form], [True Form], [Adult Form]

[Floating Lv.5], [Dragon Drain Lv.3], [Dragon Flight Lv.4]

[Curse Magic Lv.6], [Life Magic Lv.5]

Skill points: 3

|Titles|

None

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"Hmm, Nana doesn't have [Child Form]." (Ai)

"If it gets any smaller, it will turn out to be a child." (Tatsuro)

"But instead of having [Child Form], she has [Astral Form]" (Ai)

"You call it a substitute, but I think it's just part of her constitution." (Tatsuro)

Is that so? Satisfied with this, Tatsuro asked her which body she was in now, and the answer came back that it was an [Adult Form], just as the two of them had expected.

So, when he asked her to show him [True Form] as a test, she said, "I don't really want to show it now...'' while looking exactly like Ai, and Tatsuro couldn't resist and moved on to the next topic.

"Then, what I'm curious about is [Dragon Drain] and [Dragon Flight]." (Ai)

"I'm sure the monster Ai defeated before had an astral body, but that one was a [Life Drain].'' (Tatsuro)

"I wonder if it could use something like that." (Ai)

"It looks like you defeated it before you could use it. What kind of skill is it exactly?" (Tatsuro)

"[Life Drain] has the effect of stealing the life of those it touches, for recovering their own magical power, and healing wounds. And my [Dragon Drain] seems to be able to absorb the energy of any living thing within its range without touching it, recovering my dragon power and wounds.'' (Nana)

"Again, that's a tough skill. What's the range of effect?" (Tatsuro)

"It seems like the range increases by 1 meter for each level. So it's currently 3 meters. However, it seems that [Dragon Drain] can only be used when in [Adult Form].'' (Nana)

It's the same thing with Cardina and the others, so there's no need to be surprised now, so it's fine. This [Dragon Drain] isn't a powerful attack skill possessed like the other two, but it's a skill that goes well with Nana who uses Curse magic: Tatsuro deducted

And finally [Dragon Flight], in this child's case as well, looking at the faded display like Jeanne's, it seemed to be a skill limited to [True Form].

That said, although it can't achieve the same speed as [Flight], she will still be able to perform well even under non-normal conditions since she has [Float] skill.

After checking the status, Tatsuro immediately asked Nana to do something.

"Okay, Nana. I want you to do something like your sisters." (Tatsuro)

"What is it? Father" (Nana)

"I will ask you to meditate now to learn [Dragon Power Recovery Speed Rise]." (Tatsuro)

"I hope you are right" (Nana)

"Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you're doing well." (Tatsuro)

And so, Nana spent the rest of the day in a body that didn't need to sleep, meditating with her two older sisters, and learning the [Dragon Power Recovery Speed Rise].

The next day. All night's efforts paid off, Nana had reached [Dragon Power Recovery Speed Rise Lv.4], and Cardina and Jeanne had reached [Dragon Power Recovery Speed Rise Lv.6].

After Tatsuro and Ai confirmed this, they ate their meals while praising and pampering all three of them, and left the inn with the leftovers of the large breakfast they had ordered stored in their [Item Box.]

So now, the two of them left the town of Lyadas and walked to a deserted place.

"Okay, everyone come out now." (Tatsuro)

"Pewee" (Cardina)

"Neigh" (Jeanne)

"Desu-o" (Nana)

They firmly answered Tatsuro's long-awaited call and appeared with three different sounds/words.

Their appearances are all [Adult Form] versions. It seems like there are quite a few people near the dungeon they are approaching now, so if they go there with [True Form] there's a good chance it will attract a lot of attention.

When the three of them appeared, Tatsuro took out the rhinoceros carriage (rhino-cart) from the [Item Box] and placed it on the ground.

"I'd like to say, let's leave now! But I think I'll make some modifications." (Tatsuro)

"We've bought a lot of things." (Ai)

"Yeah. I'll try my best as long as it doesn't put too much of a burden on Jeanne." (Tatsuro)

With that said, Tatsuro first added a new iron ingot to extend the rhino cart about a meter upwards, and then for the exterior, he took out an ingot of Phoebus steel that he had previously purchased, which is heavier but harder than iron. While using dark magic to strengthen and lighten it in the best possible balance, he spread it thinly and coated the rhino cart.

Once that was done, he coated the seat dedicated to Cardina in the ceiling in the same way to make it a little more durable.

Once that work was completed, the next step was the interior. It currently has a small room with only a cushion mat, which is also used as a bed, on the floor, and instead of a mat, Tatsuro put a long fur carpet on the floor, and he set up some light and small furniture, such as a chair and a desk.

Once the installation was complete, he fixed them firmly with earth magic so that they wouldn't fall over even if the rhino cart stopped suddenly.

Now, there was no longer a place for the two of them to sleep, but since the rhinoceros carriage itself was extended upwards, there was a new space.

Tatsuro made it into a loft-like shape, built a low ceiling above it, and glued and reinforced it quite strongly to prevent the partition that separated the top and bottom from falling down.

Once that was done, Tatsuro prepared a simple ladder to get to the loft above and climbed up it.

The space had just the right height and space for just sleeping, and Tatsuro said with a satisfied look on his face as he laid down on the slightly more expensive mattress he had purchased from Reginald. He wrapped it up and it seemed to be quite comfortable to sleep on as the soft mat covered his body.

It is possible to also go to the ceiling from there, so you can immediately see what's going on outside.

This made him feel like he would be able to spend a lot of time comfortably on the way.

"Okay, it's finished. Would you like to try towing it? If it's too heavy, I'll have to reduce it or modify it.'' (Tatsuro)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

After remaking the metal fittings to fit the six-meter-long giant body, he attached them to Jeanne, and he asked her to proceed a little further with no one on board.

Then, she pulled out the rhino cart, which had increased in weight, without any resistance.

"It's an amazing power." (Ai)

"I see. Jeanne, that's hardly using wind magic, right?" (Tatsuro)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

"Of course, there are status corrections, but it means that your muscle strength has also increased considerably." (Tatsuro)

"Ah, I'm very proud of her" (Ai)

The two of them, Cardina, and Nana caught up with Jeanne who had gone a little ahead of them while they were talking, Tatsuro was trying to replenish her magic power, and Ai gently stroked the tip of Jeanne's nose just because she wanted to.

At that, Jeanne let out a deep breath and pleasantly narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm, Sister Cardina is for exploration, Sister Jeanne is for travel…. What on earth should I do...That's right! Father, mother." (Nana)

"What? Nana" (Tatsuro)

"During the journey, I will ride on Sister Jeanne's back and support her with curse magic and Life magic. I weigh almost nothing, so I shouldn't get in the way of Sister Jeanne!" (Nana)

"Hmm, it's true that in case of an emergency, you can strengthen Jeanne and Cardina with curse magic, and life magic also can be used for recovery, which is good..." (Tatsuro)

"You don't have to force yourself to find something to do, okay? Nana-chan has a solid role to play." (Ai)

"Still, I also want to be of help to you." (Nana)

Seeing her serious eyes, the two of them felt it was unwise to say anything more, so they decided to ask her to try supporting Jeanne.

When Tatsuro and Ai were about to sit in the driver's seat, Nana told them that they could go inside and rest, and they were almost forced into the private room of the car.

As expected, it was uncomfortable to accept everything said to them out rightly, but in the end, they accepted Nana's proposal.

"Well then, first go straight down this road and keep going until you reach a four-way intersection." (Tatsuro)

"Yes!" (Nana)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

"Hmm. Are you sure you're okay?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes!" (Nana)

After being told that clearly, they couldn't say anything more, the two of them entered the rhino cart as it moved along the way, feeling as if they were letting their child go on an errand for the first time.