Using Gacha to Increase My Companions and to Create the Strongest Girls' Army Corps

The day after Estel played with Anneli and the others, we continued hunting.

We now have 802 magic stones, and my level has reached 78.

Today, after finishing hunting, we returned home to take a break before heading to the adventurer's guild.

"Hehe, we've saved up a lot of magic stones now."

"Our levels have gone up a lot too! This magic stone gathering has been quite fun!"

"In your case, Noru, it was more like collecting mushrooms, wasn't it..."

We've been steadily accumulating magic stones over time, and finally reached this point. The occasional magic stones we've been getting thanks to Deus and Grin taking down rare species have also been a big help.

"I'm so glad we teamed up with them... We'll have to thank them next time we see them."

"Hehe, now we can freely spin the next event gacha," said Sisya.

"Sisya and Heiha sure get excited when it comes to gacha. Is it really that fun?" asked Runa, tilting her head.

"Of course! Spinning the gacha is my raison d'être!" I declared.

"You should probably find a better purpose in life..." Noru suggested.

"Well, that's just how my brother is. It can't be helped," Estel added.

After resting a bit, we left Runa and Sisya at home and headed to the Queres Adventurer's Guild to submit our hunting proof. We used a beacon to travel to Queres and walked into the guild, where we spoke to the usual receptionist.

"Excuse me."

"Oh, Ookura-san, perfect timing," she said.

"Perfect timing?" I asked.

"Yes, we have a request we'd like you to take on."

Another request... It seems that being a B-rank adventurer means getting asked to take on a lot of requests. I decided to at least hear her out. She explained that they wanted us to investigate a bamboo forest west of Queres where a dozen or so Trents had been spotted. They also wanted us to collect some glowing bamboo called Makouchiku from there. The investigation would be complete once we found the Makouchiku.

"Bamboo that glows... Sounds like something out of a fairy tale."

"Considering how well you handled the Grandis with just your party, we believe you can manage this, but if you're unsure, you can go with multiple parties. What do you think?"

"...We'll take it on as a single party."

It's possible that another Grandis has appeared. Normally, it would be safer to go with other parties, but we have a lot to hide, so it's easier to handle things alone. I told the receptionist we'd take it on solo, received the detailed request form, and we left the guild.

"Another Trent outbreak... What's going on?"

"Indeed. Could there be a labyrinth somewhere?" Noru suggested.

"Maybe it's like the situation with the Angori Ruins," Estel added.

Now they're appearing in the western bamboo forest... Trents are popping up everywhere. As Noru and Estel said, it's starting to resemble the situation at Angori Ruins.

"Hmm, if that's the case, I'd be happy to destroy it, but the Trent's range of appearance is too wide to pinpoint anything."

"Well, the place we last saw the Grandis seems suspicious," Estel suggested.

"Let's go check it out after we finish this request," Noru said.

The Angori Ruins had a labyrinth inside, so the anomaly was localized, but Queres is experiencing widespread anomalies. Considering the areas affected so far... Could there be a massive underground labyrinth beneath Queres?

...No, that can't be. What's going on?

---

The next day, we arrived at the bamboo forest.

Seeing bamboo amidst the medieval European scenery was a bit nostalgic. As I observed the bamboo forest, I spotted a few thick trees mixed among the bamboo that looked out of place.

"...Aren't those Trents?"

"They stick out like a sore thumb in the bamboo forest," Noru noted.

"Is that a Trent? Let's find out. Here goes!" Runa said.

The Trents were not camouflaged at all among the bamboo. They looked very unnatural. Just in case they were regular trees, Runa decided to throw her spear to check. Her spear hit one of the trees dead center, and the tree began writhing in agony.

"Oh, it moved."

"Nice hit! As expected of Runa-san!" Noru cheered.

"It's nice not to get ambushed," Estel said.

With the tree confirmed as a Trent, we proceeded to eliminate it and continued onward, taking out every suspicious tree we saw. We found about ten trees so far, and they all turned out to be Trents. How many of these things are there in this bamboo forest? Just when I was getting fed up with their numbers, something burst out of the ground.

It was a bamboo shoot about the same size as a Matango.

"Now we've got walking bamboo shoots?"

The bamboo shoot had arms and legs, and it wielded a spear with a bamboo shoot-like tip. It looked slower than a Matango but seemed stronger due to its weapon.

"Do you think it drops food, Ookura-dono?" Noru asked.

"Uh... yeah, I think so. Bamboo shoots are edible after all..."

Seriously, Noru? That's your first concern? I'm starting to worry about her... This thing might drop bamboo shoots like Matangos drop mushrooms. Though knowing they're edible makes it a bit harder to eat them... Even though they're probably delicious.

Let's check its stats.

---

● Species: Bambus

Level: 55

HP: 15,000

MP: 300

Attack: 800

Defense: 1,300

Agility: 10

Magic Resistance: 30

Special Ability: Rapid Growth

Skills: Thrust

---

It's reasonably strong. Not a major threat, though.

"Hehe, let's take it down and get some food! I'm starting to love these food-dropping monsters!" Noru exclaimed.

"Queres is full of edible monsters, isn't it? Those fruits were delicious too," Estel noted.

"Well, it's certainly convenient for us," I said.

"Don't sweat the small stuff," Estel advised.

Excited about the potential food drop, Noru charged at the Bambus. It readied its spear to counter, but she sliced off the spear tip before it could thrust. In an instant, she chopped the Bambus into pieces, turning it into particles of light. When the light faded, a nice bamboo shoot was left behind.

"Got a fresh one!" Noru said proudly.

"A bamboo shoot, huh... Not quite," I muttered.

"The color is slightly different in some parts. Just like with the mushrooms," Estel observed.

The bamboo shoot Noru brought back had a silver grass-like top instead of green, and the red bumpy parts were also silver. I guess, like the mushrooms, the taste varies depending on who defeats it... Noru will be happy about this.

Since hunting isn't our main goal, we didn't look for rare Bambus and resumed searching for Makouchiku and more Trents. Noru complained a lot, but I promised we'd come back for a proper hunt later, and she reluctantly agreed.

We continued defeating Trents and occasional Bambus until we saw a dazzling light from the deeper part of the bamboo forest.

"Wow, the bamboo really is glowing."

"That's the Makouchiku we need to collect. It's filled with magical essence," Estel said.

The glowing bamboo, about three meters tall, stood out prominently. This must be the Makouchiku... Unlike the Makouseki in Alde Forest, it took a while to find, so it might be quite rare.

We decided to cut it down and divide it into six pieces to take back. With this, one of our objectives is complete.

"Alright, we've found the Makouchiku, so we could head back now..."

Finding the Makouchiku completes both the investigation and collection parts of the request. But should we just leave like this?

We've already taken down nearly 30 Trents. This is clearly an abnormal outbreak. There might be a Grandis somewhere in this forest.

We should at least check for one.

"Right... Let's keep taking down Trents and see if there's a Grandis around," Estel suggested.

"Another one of those? I don't want to get tied up again," Runa said, remembering the last encounter.

Seeing her expression, Sisya, with a determined look, said something that made my head hurt.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you this time! I'll be the first to charge in!"

"You should be the last one charging in, being the healer!"

Seriously, don't joke about that! Having the healer rush in first is ridiculous! I sighed at Sisya's usual antics and refocused on searching the bamboo forest.