Two hours later, Stephanie and those who were the lower troops began to form a PT and line up in the guild line. And the atmosphere of the PT wasn't very good, Kisaragi was checking on that situation while sitting in a seat in the guild.


(It's okay.......I was definitely better than before. And even the PT members were only people I'd never met before, having come up from a lower army. (I was also in a hurry, so I'm sure I'll make mistakes)


　Kisaragi belonged to Aldoret Crow, so of course he knew about Stephanie's different abilities. She was so good that the healers of the second and third armies gave up before the once-a-month assessment, and the rumors were known to the lower armies as well. It's safe to say that there isn't a healer within Aldoret Crow who isn't aware of Stephanie.

　Before the Stampede happened, Kisaragi didn't think he could beat Stephanie either. He clearly felt the difference between Stephanie and himself because it was the same clan.

　But this time the assessment was different than before. A month out of the line of fire, PT members who are different from the usual, and the people assessing them are also thinking of raising their chances with the lower troops and the votes of the labyrinth maniacs. The tailwind was blowing in my direction, and furthermore, I was confident that I was able to show more power than usual during the battle against the Winter General just now.

　For the past month, I've been working hard too. He'd been hiding in God's dungeon every day, eating simple meals, and not even sleeping enough to feel alive. However, that effort was worth it, and he'd made it this far.


''Fail...!


　He didn't want such a month's effort to go to waste, only to have it go to waste. So Kisaragi looked at Stephanie, who was holding a staff like a commanding stick, and only prayed that she would fail. And while Kisaragi was praying, that PT moved into the 80th level on the magic circle.


''Wow, the guild is crowded after all. Ahh, Daryl's going to get caught in the color scheme and give up his seat.
I can't help it!
(...hmm?)


　Since the other searchers knew about Aldoret Crow's assessment, the inside of the guild where the divine table was located was in moderate prosperity. Kisaragi suddenly turned around at the sound of a familiar voice that came from such a noisy place.

　There was a man wearing a white hooded robe, a white robe often seen in the divine table, and black trousers decorated with the red symbol of the Doren Workshop. He turned his skills over his head, as did Stephanie's, and drew a certain amount of attention from the others.


(Tutum...?)


　Tsutomu, who had created his current position as a healer from scratch and was still counted as one of the three greatest healers, was wandering around looking for an empty seat with a troublesome look on his face. He could also see Daryl, the second tank of the Infinite Circle, nearby.


''Ah, there's an empty seat over there. Here, secure it.
Yes!


　And at the same time as Stephanie's battle against the Winter General was being shown on the God's table, Daryl moved quickly to secure two seats next to me because there was an empty seat. I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more information on this.

　Kisaragi had never interacted with Tsutomu before, but she had used him as a reference when she was a healer. So in her mind, he was like a celebrity she had seen on the divine table alone.


'Um, could it be Tsutomu?'
Huh?　Yeah, I know.
'Wow!　Is it real?　It's nice to see you here!


　When Kisaragi spoke to him with an upward glance that tickled the man's self-esteem, Tsutomu narrowed his eyes and stared at her face intently. Then he made a face as if he remembered something.


'Oh, you're Kisaragi-san?'
"...what?　Do you know who I am?
'I don't know that much about you, but you're a white mage and healer of Aldoret Crow, I believe, right?　I also saw you diving into the eighty levels earlier.
What?　You really did know me!　I'm just a pebble in the middle of nowhere compared to Mr. Tsutomu!
Well, I do a lot of research on my competitors.


　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time with this one. As if caught by that, Kisaragi also turns his gaze to the first stand. Then he looked at Stephanie, who had already spread her support skills to all of them.


(..............For now, it's normal.


　The difference between him and Stephanie was not much of a difference as it had only just begun. The tanks are used to fighting the Winter General, so they easily take up the hate, and the attackers attack with the haste granted to them.


''.........Mr. Tsutomu, what is it you're writing about?''


　There wasn't any particular highlight, so Kisaragi spoke to Tsutomu, who was scribbling some notes. Then Daryl, who was next to him for some reason, started to look at him like he had a bomb in front of him, but Tsutomu replied, moving his hand without taking his eyes off Kamidai.


'It's about Stephanie's standing around, isn't it?
'Stephanie's standing around...?　But Stephanie was your student, wasn't she?
'There's a lot we can learn from even the worst-performing apprentice in the golden investigation. There's a great deal to be learned from Miss Stephanie.
'Haha..... That's right. Is Stephanie still excellent in the eyes of Mr. Tsutomu, after all?


　Basically, Tsutomu was watching Kamidai from the reserved seat outside, so he wasn't seen much by the other searchers, such as when he was writing notes. The fact that Tsutomu still keeps his eyes on the Godai while talking about it is surprising to Kisaragi.

　And Tsutomu continued to talk, looking at the first table in a good mood, perhaps due to the fact that he is a colleague of mine.


''So far, I'm the best of the healers. Next in line would be around Lorena.
'Heh.... What do you think of Stephanie from Shentai at the moment?
'Hmmm, there's not much going on at the moment.
Of course.
''But that tank, that's a holy knight and he seems to be used to dealing with the Winter General, but his management of the Ember Aura isn't perfect yet. From what I've seen, he's so focused on the fact that the effect time is expiring that he's not able to concentrate on the battle.
..........


　What Tsutomu said was something Kisaragi also thought inwardly. As a holy knight, he was able to get around without cutting the Ember Aura, but he could overwrite it too quickly and paint over the effect time needlessly, or he could lose focus when the effect time was close to expiring.


''There are five minutes and thirty-two seconds left until the effect of the Ember Aura expires. I'll take care of managing the seconds, so you can concentrate on the battle with General Winter.
..........


　And right after Tsutomu had pointed this out, Stephanie had also pointed this out to Tank at Kamidai. Then Stephanie started to manage the time of Ember Aura as well, but her other support skills never ran out at all. It was a no-brainer for Stephanie, who had practiced the seconds management exercises taught to her by Tsutomu to the point where she was going crazy.


'High heels, medic,'


　And just like Tsutomu, he also applies his recovery skill to the tanks being slashed by the Winter General just before the attack hits. That way, the pain the tank feels is minimized, and it also saves time.


'Airblade.'


　Furthermore, what was most different from Kisaragi was that he was attacking the Winter General. Kisaragi stood up with a startled look in his eyes as the healer even started shooting at his attack skills.


'What?　He attacked!


　Basically, healers do not attack. That is also written in the form that Aldoret Crow publishes independently within the clan, a form that is put together for the Winter General strategy. It also describes how attackers and tanks should stand around, and healers are instructed to refrain from attacking and focus on support recovery.

　And if a healer is targeted as a result of doing anything other than support recovery, it will definitely have a significant impact on the assessment. At any rate, the Winter General's attack form shared by the clan members doesn't say anything about the healer attacking.

　If it was usually seen throughout the month, it is still told that this time the format is that those who are assessing will be judged based on this one battle alone. So if Stephanie even goes on the offensive and messes up her hate management, it's obvious that it will end badly. For this reason, this time, attacking would actually lead to the risk of self-destruction, but Stephanie was taking such a high risk with an unconcerned look on her face.

　In addition, the support recovery is not disturbed at all, and the switching of tanks is also done without stagnation, with instructions and recovery in advance. And there were many improvements from the previous Winter General breakthrough, such as occasionally going up in the sky on the fly for a little bit to check the situation and swinging more medics to fix frostbite.


''It's kind of like a girl's version of Tsutomu-san, isn't it?
''Well it's true, the moves are much more similar. And Frye's standing around seems to have been overtaken by Stephanie lately.


　The flying skills hit the PT members as if it were all inevitable when Stephanie swung her command stick, and the scene is just like a conductor. The way they stand is almost the same as Tsutomu's, just like Daryl said. It's a level that could be called a living replica of Tsutomu.

　And the words spoken by Daryl and Tsutomu hardly entered Kisaragi's mind. To the extent that this was the case, Stephanie's healer had changed significantly since she had broken through the Winter General before. And most importantly, it was shocking that no one had died yet.

　Spectators and labyrinth maniacs have touted healers who resuscitate, but if you're in the same industry, you know exactly how great healers who don't resuscitate are. It proves that they are able to heal their tanks carefully enough that they don't die, and they are also able to manage the increase in hate from using their recovery skills well. As long as Kisaragi was also a healer, he knew how great it was.

　Furthermore, Stephanie was also doing things that were not written in the Winter General strategy form.


''Geez.''


　At the end of the game, when the Winter General's stamina is decreasing, he will call out his horse, which will increase the number of enemies by one. However, just in the nick of time, one of the tanks received a critical attack and collapsed significantly, and instantly the attacker attacked and the Winter General went into motion to call the horse.


''Heel. The attacker interrupted the attack once. I'll get the tank back up and then bring out the horses.''


　However, Stephanie had interrupted the preliminary movement by applying a shooting heel to General Winter who was daring to call out the horse. The Winter General can't call out a horse unless its physical strength breaks the constant value. Knowing this, Stephanie made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do so.


''That's divine,''
...Are you imitating Hannah?
No.


　Tsutomu can't help but wince at Stephanie's excellent judgment and write it down on the form crisply. If Tsutomu is also in such a situation, 'Live Dungeon! He could have done it since he was doing it though, but he grinned at Stephanie for doing it on the spur of the moment.


''It's nice to have a tank that can firmly avoid critical attacks in a situation like that. That was a good white mage, so I could rebuild it, but it would have been pretty tough to do so with a prayer warrior. Daryl is somewhat capable, but Garum is better at avoiding critical attacks, so you should steal him.
'Yes, of course...'


　Daryl, who was planning to study the divine platform with Tsutomu this time, listened to what Tsutomu was saying with his black tail up in concentration.

　Stephanie then recovered her depleted tank from the critical attack, and once everyone was stable, she instructed her attacker to resume the attack and had the Winter General call the horse. From then on, he didn't spread the hate between General Winter and his horse, and furthermore, Stephanie joined the attack while also recovering support.

　And because Stephanie was participating in the attack, the defeat of General Winter was completed in a faster time than Kisaragi. Before, the tank had died many times, but this time the number of times it was revived was zero. Kisaragi had a shocked look on his face when he saw the result.


''Why........it was not at all before.......''


　From watching Stephanie's previous battle against the Winter General, she was in a state where she was able to break through at the very last minute. Compared to that, I had the knowledge and countermeasures against the Winter General, so I was able to break through with some leeway. So even if it wasn't a sure thing, I thought I could still have a good match.

　However, despite the fact that it was only the second time for him to break through the eighty level, Stephanie was better at standing around than he was, who had already defeated the Winter General more than ten times. Kisaragi didn't know why on earth that was.


'How could Stephanie be so good at that!　I've been working harder here for a month than I have for a month!
''Well you're the first PT healer to break through the Winter General, Stephanie. I think it's because her understanding is also much deeper.


　Seeing Kisaragi, who seemed somewhat angry, Tsutomu said that while making a face of some understanding.

　It is natural that there is a difference between Stephanie, who thought through and fought her way through and finally broke through, and Kisaragi, who simply moved along the tracks laid out and broke through without difficulty. Stephanie has certainly only broken through the Winter General once, but she has tried and been killed dozens of times. The number of triumphs is clearly higher than Kisaragi's.

　Both Tsutomu and Daryl had heard about Aldrete Crow's assessment, so they had guessed when they saw Kisaragi getting angry. When Tsutomu made a face of complete sympathy, Kisaragi turned around with crisp eyes.


''Hey, why are you looking at me like that!　The results of the assessment have not yet been determined!
Well, sure, I suppose so. But you're in such a hurry because you're aware of it, aren't you?
'Wow, what is inferior to Stephanie?　Tell me about it!
''........I was watching Kisaragi-san's stand earlier, and she was definitely good at it. He seemed to be used to fighting the Winter General, and he was much quicker to rebuild. But there is a clear difference with Stephanie-san. You still don't know enough about yourself to be a healer.
...and you're a healer?


　When Kisaragi asked that back, Tsutomu continued to speak with a slightly disappointed look on his face.


'Maybe it can't be helped, but I can see through your former disposable healer from you. You care too much about attackers and tanks. That's why I'm overly supportive of support recovery, and I'm not good at hate management. I'm also too accepting of everything the attackers and tanks say. But Stephanie is giving the tank and attacker the support recovery they need. So they can afford to attack as well. As long as you don't fix that mindset first, you won't be able to reach Stephanie-san no matter how hard you try.
..........


　When Tsutomu told him that, Kisaragi turned over with a sluggish, sinking face. She flattered the attacker and the tank. That awareness was in her as well, and it was instilled in her when she was a disposable healer. Especially since Kisaragi was just around the middle of the pack at that time, that awareness was deep-rooted.


(He says.........) There's no way I can beat Stephanie........)
'However, Kisaragi-san was faithful in his basic standings and his shooting skills showed flashes of brilliance. The assessment this time was disappointing, but I'm sure he could have made it to the top ranks. From now on, as long as you correct your awareness and work hard, you will have a chance, so please do not be discouraged.
What...?


　However, the words that Tsutomu gave me afterwards were very surprising. Kisaragi looked up with a surprised look on his face, as he had thought that he would be told that he would never be able to beat Stephanie for the rest of his life.


''Even I can beat that Stephanie?
'Never say never, right?　It's true that it's hard to win, because that guy is working pretty hard too. But no one is absolutely insurmountable. You won't know unless you try.
...Oh, I see.


　Kisaragi looked a little relieved by his words, then bowed quietly.


''Thank you, thank you. For going out of your way to say this, even though we've never met before.''
No, no, no, it's all right.
We can't afford to feel down!　Well then, if you'll excuse me!


　Kisaragi, who couldn't stay for some reason after Tsutomu said those words to him, said so cheerfully and got up from his seat.

　And as she was leaving Tsutomu and the others to leave the guild, her shoulders collided with someone else's. The slender girl unexpectedly fell to the ground.


''Ah, Sumima--''


　When he looked up, apologizing to the person whose shoulders had bumped with his, Kisaragi felt a chill that made his skin feel chilly. Stephanie, whose eyes were worthy of the two names of Ice Conductor, was looking down at her.


''.........''
What the hell...


　Stephanie continues to look down on herself without saying a word. She doesn't lend a hand, she just keeps staring at Kisaragi. Kisaragi was beginning to be slightly frightened by Stephanie's too bizarre atmosphere.


''........Uh, are you okay?''


　Perhaps unable to see the situation, the person who had encouraged him earlier approached him. Tsutomu, who reached out his hand, seemed like a savior to Kisaragi.